
^•i^>»;;;.':u:^!i; 




IL[y[M©[7®[^.[D 0,AR[I[i 



LUNSFORD LANE; 



OB, 



ANOTHER HELPER FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 



BY 



THE REV. WILLIAM G. HAWKINS, A. M. 

AUTHOR OF " THE LIFE OF HAWKINS." 



BOSTOl^: 
CKOSBY & NICHOLS, 

117 Washington Street. 

1863. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1863, by 

LUNSFORD LANE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



t 3 '1 =1 t 



GEO. C. RAND & AVERY, 
STEBBOTYPERS AND PRINTER i. 



To 
T. W. WELLINGTON, ESQ., 

Of whose unobtrusive benevolence and genuine sympathy of heart, 

^\t bisaWeb ^olirier in i\t logphal Hitb i\z forongcb <f itgiti&e ^labe 

Save received tnany Substantial ToTeens, 

THIS VOLUME 

is respectfully inscribed. 



PREFACE 



The volume herewith given to the pubhc has 
been prepared at moments snatched from pro- 
fessional duties. It is hoped that it will not 
be without some interest to the general reader. 

The writer is himself a Southerner by birth, 
but now and for some time resident in the North. 
He has at different times resided in Virginia and 
Maryland, and has a personal knowledge of some 
of the incidents to which reference is made in 
the volume. His acquaintance with Lunsford 
Lane is quite recent ; but, on hearing his story, 
he was able to verify the statements made by 
him. He has now performed the promise made, 
that, at some time, he would prepare the present 
volume for the press, hoping its circulation might 
be of service to the cause of the oppressed, and, 
at the same time, be of some benefit to a worthy 
family who were unwilling exiles from home. 
The book contains the particulars of a life replete 
with incident, not of what slavery is under its 



VI PREFACE. 

most revolting features, but of what it is to be a 
Blave, with a sensitive nature, under the most 
favorable circumstances. The years of ser*vitude 
were passed at Raleigh, the capital of North Caro- 
lina. He was himself thirty-two years a slave 
and spent eighteen years of his life in the pur- 
chase of himself and family, consisting of a wife 
and seven children. He acted acceptably for 
three years, as messenger and waiter under Gov- 
ernors Dudley and Morehead, and thus made the 
acquaintance of many members of the Legisla- 
tm^e. He is finally compelled to flee with his 
family from the State, and reside in a climate 
unsuited to their health. The sketches of South- 
ern life will be recognized as true by those who 
have resided in the Southern States. The inci- 
dents of kidnapping now belong to the docu- 
mentary history of the country. Several chap- 
ters are devoted to the changed position into 
which the colored population are brought by the 
civil war. One or two chapters give some inci- 
dents in the organization and equipment of the 
Fifty-fourth Eegiment of Massachusetts Volun- 
teers, and their eventful history at the seat of 
war. It is hoped this account, compiled mostly 
from the press, will be acceptable to the friends 
of the colored soldier. What the contrabands 
are doing and what they can do, as soldiers and 



PREFACE. VII 

as citizens, are questions which have received 
some attention. 

The subject of the prejudice against the col- 
ored race is briefly dwelt upon, but not to the 
extent demanded. The poor white man at the 
South, as well as a large portion of the people at 
the North, have much to unlearn upon this sub- 
ject. It is hoped that this volume, from the plain 
style in which the narrative is given, may reach 
many of our colored fellow-citizens ; and that the 
example of industry and of patient endurance 
of trials, and the integrity of character unfolded 
in the life of Lunsford Lane, may inspire them 
to the imitation of virtues, without which they 
can never secure the respect and sympathy of 
the good. And may all Christians see, in the 
revolution that is now proceeding in this land, — 
in the wide door thrown open for the moral ele- 
vation and civilization of nearly four millions of 
the human family, — the very grave responsibili- 
ties resting upon them. The dreaded cry of 
"Abolitionism" will not hereafter be of much 
power in causing us to withdraw our sympathies 
and of illustrating in our own land and before an 
unbelieving world the blessedness of the religion 
of Jesus. If these toiling and degraded millions 
can be " comforted," then " blessed are they that 
mourn." If we can secure them life and its 



VIII PREFACE. 

blessings, and a portion of our extended territory 
upon which to labor, then "blessed are the meek : 
for they shall inherit the earth." And then, in 
due time the " peacemakers " shall come, bearing 
the richest blessings in their hands ; while it will 
be found that they who are "merciful" "shall 
obtain mercy." 

With politicians we have no controversy ; we 
have spoken of the subject simply as a part — a 
transcript — of our social history, the wrongs of 
which all good people should be ashamed. 

If this unpretending volume shall be of any 
use in spreading more light upon a subject daily 
growing in importance, the writer will feel amply 
compensated for his labor. To that sweetest of 
all our poets, J. G. Whittier, whose notes of free- 
dom are now sounding from the lips of the 
newly-emancipated "on St. Helena's Isle," the 
writer is indebted for many gems sparkling 
through the tamest chapters of the volume. To 
L. Maria Child and others the writer has already 
acknowledged his obligations in the pages fol- 
lowing. ^_ Q jj 

Worcester, September 29, 1-863. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Page. 
His bii'th, and the early struggles of childhood 1-^ 



CHAPTER II. 

His efforts for securing freedom 



CHxVPTER III. 

Incidents by the way — Journey to Washington, X. C— A troublesome com- 
panion— Slavery defended— Condemned out of their own mouths ... 31 



CHAPTER lY. 

His master's death — Continued efforts for freedom — Love of wife and chil- 
dren — The story of Matt. Harris 40 



CHAPTER V. 

Lunsford as a Christian — His religious teachers — Slavery seeking the aid 
of revelation — An honest religious teacher rebuking the slave-holder — 

Does not bear the light of history . . , .,.,,.,. 63 

IX 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Page. 
His continued prosperity — Keg'otiates for the purchase of wife and children 
— Dark days — The slave-holder on liis track — The cruel statute — Peti- 
tions the legislature — Fails in obtaining mercy — Darker days 81 



CHAPTER VII. 

New trials — Arrested in Baltimore by kidnappers — His defence — Trial 
before Justice Shane — Lawyer Walch — A friend in need — The land- 
sharks lose their prey — A conversation about matters of fact 101 



CHAPTER VIII. 

His mission to the North successful — Proceeds to Raleigh for his family — 
Is seized — His trial — Honorable discharge — The mob, like hounds, 
pant for his blood —An eventful night— Tar and feathers — The home of 
freedom at length reached 137 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mr. Smith's pecuniary engagements — Various incidents in a Southern pas- 
tor's life — Shooting a slave — A sad funeral — The plantation near Tar- 
boro' — Improvidence of slaves — Close of Lunsford's life in the South . 102 



CHAPTER X. 

The rescued household on the soil of freedom — Attends the May anniver- 
saries in New York and Boston — Addresses the anti-slavery convention 

— Is well received — Employed as lecturer — Removes to Oberlin, Ohio 

— Oberlin rescue case, and others i/4 



CHAPTER XI. 

Practises the healing art — Dr. Lane's vegetable pills — His parents join 
him — Their quiet life at Wreutham ~ Their death — Lunsford's conuec- 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page, 
tion with the colored Baptist Church in Joy Street, Boston — Interesting 
documents 194 



CHAPTER Xn. 

The Rebellion of slave-holders — Lunsford lectures on the subject — What 
shall be done with the freedmen ? — The Wellington Hospital — Appointed 
as steward— Alacrity of colored men to aid the government — Their pol- 
icy— Mr. Whiting's letter — The testimony of history on the subject of 
the employment of negroes in war 202 



CHAPTER XIIT. 

The children of Lunsford entering the ranks of the loyal host tor Union and 
freedom — The Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Colored Volun- 
teers — Their organization and departure — Speeches of Gov. Andrew 
and Col. Shaw — Their eventful history in the field — Their bravery in the 
conflict — Their patient suffering in the hospitals at Beaufort — the ques- 
tion settled, the " negro " will fight 218 



CHAPTER XIY. 

The scene changed — Washington, N. C, in 1863 — Enrolment of freedmen 
— Contrabands, and what to do with them — Dr. Stone's account — The 
progress of enlistment — The government makes provision for their sup- 
port— " The poor white trash"— The labors of Gen. Thomas 244 



CHAPTER XV. 

The contrabands — What to do, and how to employ them — Report of gov- 
ernment commissioners — Report of emancipation league — A plan for 
their colonization and support on Roanoke Island — What they have 
done in Liberia they may do better here — The darky making himself 
comfortable 259 



XII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVi. 

Page. 

Prejudice against the African race considered — Tlie New York mob and 
tlie sufferings of the negro — Burning- of the Colored Orplian Asylum — 
Notes of personal outrages — Conduct of the British Consul-General — 
Advice of the great O'Connell 271 



CHAPTER XVII. 

News from the old folks at home —Letter from Memphis, Tenn. — Lunsford 
at school — Visit of Lafayette to Raleigh — Lunsford noticed by him — 
Lafayette's opinions — The lyceum at the Mineral Spring — The negro de- 
baters — The freedmen at Port Royal, as seen by a writer in the Atlantic 
Monthly 



MEMOIR OF LUNSFOED LANE, 



CHAPTER I 



' Onr fellow countrymen in otainsl 

Slaves in a land of light and law ! 
Slaves crouching on the very plains 
■\;^ere rolled the storm of Freedom's war I 

Ohl rouse ye, ere the storm comes forth — 

The gathered wrath of God and man- 
Like that which wasted Egypt's earth 

When hail and fire above it ran. 
Hear ye no warnings in the air? 

Feel ye no earthquake underneath? 
Up! up! why will ye slumber where 

The sleeper only wakes in death ? " 



HIS BIRTH, AND THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF CHILDHOOD. 

UPON a pleasant afternoon in October, a slave, 
completing the day's labor some hours sooner 
than usual, his bosom swellmg with emotions peculiar 
to a man about enjoying his first moment of freedom, 
when, from bemg a chattel, he is about to experience 
the liberty wherewith God and Nature hath made him 
free I The mansion to which he is bending his weary 
steps is that of his "mistress," the widow Haywood, 
pleasantly situated in the town of Raleigh, N. C. She 
is entertaining a pleasant company upon the veranda, 
which extended along three sides of the mansion. The 
slave approaches cautiously, and seating himself upon 

2 13 



14 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

one of the steps leading to the veranda, awaits a pause 
in the happy conversation to introduce his business. 
Mrs. Haywood was a woman of a churlish tempera- 
ment and an avaricious spirit. The slave-man at her 
feet, her superior in mental and in moral endowments, 
is about to pay her the last instalment of fifty dollars, 
the wages that his master, before his death, had agreed 
to take as compensation for his services. " Mistress," 
said the slave, in language entirely free from that almost 
unintelligible jargon of the more ignorant of his race, 
" I have come to settle the little account which, though 
of no consequence to you, has been the object of many 
years of labor and anxiety." Then, taking from his vest- 
pocket a roll of notes, he handed them to his mistress, 
who as yet sat with her back toward him, but deigned 
to listen for a moment to his story. With a movement 
almost of hauteur, she reached backward, and taking 
the money, she hastily conveyed it to her purse. 
'' Mother," said the daughter who sat near her, in a 
voice that was caught by the quick ear of the slave, 
" you promised the children that you would not exact 
that last payment from Lunsford. You know his faith- 
fulness has been unsurpassed by any slave that you or 
pa have ever owned. I don't think you did right to 
take it from him." " That, child, is a matter in regard 
to which I need no dictation from you ; you had better 
give your attention to our friends here." Freed now 
by the labor of his own hands, an effort of many years, 
performed during hours of the day and night, when 
service to his master was not exacted — (in this long 
period of toil his master died, but being a humane man, 



BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 15 

left a wish that his widow should adhere to the promise 
made the slave) — now emancipated from an illegal 
bondage, Lunsford hastens with joyful steps to the hum- 
ble cottage where his wife and little ones dwell, but 
alas! his cup of enjoyment is mingled with sorrow 
still ; for his wife and children are all slaves, and may 
be separated in a moment when he dreams not of it. 
" Martha," said he as he entered, " I am now a free- 
man, or as free as a man can be in this land where laws 
in respect to slaves are so uncertain and partial. I 
cannot describe to you these queer and joyous feelings ; 
none but one who has been a slave can experience such 
sensations. It seems as though I was in heaven. I 
shall sleep none this night ; big thoughts are crowding 
themselves upon my soul, and I cannot sleep. How 
strange, too, these images that possess my mind ! — like 
so many rivers of light ; deep and rich are their waves 
as they roll by me. I am borne up as if on eagles' 
wings. These tears, too, are as rich as the emotions 
that call them forth. These are more to me than sleep, 
ay, more than soft slumber after months of faithful 
watching by the bedside of a dying friend. None but 
him who has passed from spiritual death to life, and has 
received witness within his soul of God's forgiveness, 
can possibly have such feeling as mine. It is like the 
rays of the rising sun just Hghting upon the distant 
mountain-top, that open the glories of the expanding 
heavens. This breaking the bonds of the slave gives to 
him at once the freedom of the earth and the skies." 

Lunsford Lane, upon whose strange history in his 
struggles for freedom we are now entering, was a man of 



16 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, 

no ordinary gifts and endowments. God had stamped 
upon his face not only the imprint of honesty, but of 
great natural inteUigence, with a soul big enough to 
comprehend the great boon of liberty, and the zeal and 
wisdom to obtain it. His name, like that of most slaves, 
has a curious origin, derived from his master or from 
some trivial circumstance, or from the whim of the 
owner. The territory upon which the town of Raleigh 
stands — but now a city and the capital of North Caro- 
lina — was once owned by Joel Lane, who settled early 
in the State, and brought with him a number of slaves ; 
among these was the father of Lunsford Lane, and his 
wife and his sister, who derived their name from that of 
the master. Later in the history of the settlement, 
John Haywood, with several brothers from near Tar- 
boro, Edgecomb County, removed thither and became 
interested in the increasing prosperity of the capital. 
At Lane's death, his estate is left in the hands of Mr. 
Haywood for settlement, and at the auction at which 
the goods and chattels are disposed of, he purchases 
the father and family of Lunsford, who is their only 
child. Mr. Haywood was for more than forty years the 
State Treasurer, and of course cultivated only the best 
society in the State. His house was frequented by men 
of taste and cultivation ; the slave Lane and his son, 
who were both selected for house-servants and waiters, 
had thus rare opportunities for acquiring information ; 
and such was their intelligence and smartness that each 
new-comer at the mansion had only words of praise to 
speak of their fitness for the position they each so well 
filled. Among these guests was a Mr. Lunsford Long, 



BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 17 

entertaining a high opinion for the slave-man and his 
accommodating child, so much so that he became their 
friend and benefactor. The father, desiring to retain 
remembrance of so kind a man, named the boy%Luns- 
ford. 

Sherwood Haywood, the owner of this slave family, 
was a man of considetable respectability and wealth ; 
he was the owner of three plantations in different parts 
of the State. To reach them he had to travel some- 
times seventy-five miles from Raleigh. Two of them 
were near, and one the distance only of three miles 
from his city residence. The lot of the child Lunsford 
was not that of a field-hand, or his condition would 
have proved most unhappy. His master owned in all 
about two hundred and fifty slaves ; but the child was 
destined to know but little of the miseries of the plan- 
tation, and the hopeless demoralization of unrequited 
toil. 

The apartment where he first saw the Hght, and 
where he spent his youth, was a room in the " kitchen," 
placed, as is the custom in the South, not far distant 
from the great house. Here the servants lodged and 
lived, and here the meals and "common doin's" were 
prepared for the aristocrats and lords of the mansion. 

The occasional visits made by the slave to the plan- 
tation were sufficient to inspire a laudable ambition to 
retain the comfortable quarters at the mansion, rather 
than share their toil and their degradation. As the 
object of this narrative is to show what slavery is, even 
under its best features, there will be no horrid scenes 
of slave-whippings and tortures and death to recount. 

2* 



18 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

To BE A SLAVE, witli a sensitive nature, is sufficient to 
show that the system possesses no feature to shield it 
from the scorn and the just execration of mankind. 
Lunsford passed his childhood as pleasantly as most 
children who are owned by wealthy and kind masters ; 
his early recollections when a boy are those of playing 
with the other boys and girls, white and colored, in the 
ample yard and grounds of the mansion, and occasion- 
ally performing such little tasks as one of so tender 
years could accomplish. In the play and glee of child- 
hood, no difference was observed between the master's 
own children and the boy-slave. If the master passed 
from his house to his business, he made no difference 
with the children on the lawn ; he seemed to show an 
equal kindness to all ; the cake or the sweetmeat was 
given with no appearance of favor for his own children, 
— so it seemed to the slave. As he increased in age, 
and the life of toil began, the keen wedge of slavery 
entered, to separate by a continually-increasing dis- 
tance the tender endearments of childhood. He was 
a slave, and they were his young masters. The labor 
required by his master from ten to fifteen was not 
severe, — wood-cutting in the yard in winter, and work- 
ing in the garden in the summer. At fifteen, the care 
of his master's pleasure-horses was allotted to him, and 
at length the honorable position of carriage-driver; 
this with other light toil occupied the days of summer. 
As he grew older, he soon discovered the difference 
between himself and his young masters; his natural 
intelligence quite equalled, if it did not surpass theirs. 
He was required to obey them ; and to be compelled as 



BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 19 

their slave to gratify the whims of boys of his own age, 
was galUng in the extreme. " I found, too," said he to 
the writer of this narrative, " that they had learned to 
read, whilst in me it was an offence almost unpardon- 
able to be seen with a book in my hand. There was 
another sorrow, or rather dread, that took full posses- 
sion of my soul. I had witnessed on my master's plan- 
tations the frequent selling of slaves, to be conveyed to 
the far South ; and the pain of being separated from 
those who were dear to me rendered me continually 
unhappy. I knew, too, that others situated similar to 
myself, for no crime, had been sold ; and the fact, too, 
that I was considered so faithful a slave, might tempt 
the many Southern guests at my master's mansion to 
offer a large price for me. He had now the reputation 
of being wealthy ; but should death suddenly call him 
away, I had nothing to hope from his selfish wife. My 
friends were not numerous ; but this made them all 
the more dear ; and the thought of being torn from 
them haunted me even in my hours of sleep. I had 
conversed with many slaves who had escaped from the 
rice and cotton plantations of Georgia and Alabama ; 
and the story of their wrongs and exposures added 
nothing to my happuiess.* There was, also, the daily 

* Whilst Lunsford was entirely unacquainted with the almost inhuman laws 
that prevaUed in the more southern States, he had daily evidences in the victims 
who escaped that it was a land of cruel scourgings and of early deaths. 

It is a law of South Carolina, that " In case any person shall wilfully cut out 
the tongue, put out the eyes cruelly,, scald, burn, or deprive any slave of any 
limb, or member, or shall inflict any other cruel punishment, otherwise than hy 
whipping, or heating with a horsewhip, cowskin, switch, or small stick, or by put- 
ting on irons, or confining, or imprisoning such slave, every S2ich person, for 
every surh offence, shall forfeit one hinrdred pounds current money. ''^ And even 



20 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

consciousness that I was not free to consult my own 
will ; but always while I lived I was to be under the con- 
trol of another ; this was another bitter added to my 
cup of sorrow. Indeed, every circumstance that sur- 
rounded me made me feel what I before only dimly 
saw, — that I was a slave. The thought burned itself 
into my very soul, and preyed upon my heart like a 
never-dying worm. And yet, while I saw no prospect 
that my state would ever be changed, I strove to keep 
self-possessed, and employed my mind day and night 
planning how I might be free. I had no complaints 
to make of a master's cruelty. I believe I was highly 
prized by the family as their slave. I had good cloth- 
ing and food. I was even made a companion by the 
younger members ; and if they desired any information 
in regard to the private affairs of their wealthy neigh- 
bors, I found them always eager for the gossip. On 



by the laws of the State in which he lived, as shown in a Manual written by Mr. 
Haywood, his own master's relative, it is stated, that '^'■Any person may law- 
fully kill a slave who has been outlawed for running away, lurking in 
swamps, &c." He had frequently heard advertisements read by the white men 
who lounged about the stores in Raleigh, especially when slaves were present, 
andfor their benefit, — such statements as these, taken from the Newbern and 
Wilmington (N. C.) papers : — 

" $200 Reward I Run away from the subscriber, about three years ago, a 
negro man named Ben. Also, another negro by the name of Rigdon, who ran 
away on the 8th of this month. I will give $100 reward for each of the above 
negroes, to be delivered to me, or confined in the jail of Lenoir Co., or for the 
killing of them, so that I can see them. W. D. COBB.^^ — Hewbern Spectator. 

" $100 will be paid to any person who may apprehend a negro man named 
Alfred. The same reward will be paid for satisfactory evidence of his having 
been killed. He has one or more scars on one of his hands, caused by his having 
been slioty — Wilmington ( N'. C.) Advertiser. 

It may seem strange that the Southern people would be so unwise as to read 
such notices to their slaves, and yet we have abundant proof from living wit- 
nesses of escaped slaves, that such is the fact. 



BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 21 

this subject, Southern house-servants have a fabulous 
amount of knowledge. The two senses of seeing and 
hearing in the slave are made doubly acute by the 
very prohibition of knowledge. One day, whilst cogi- 
tating in mind how I might obtain my freedom, my 
father gave me a small basket of peaches, and stealing 
away from the ' kitchen ' I soon disposed of them for 
thirty cents, which was the first money I ever possessed 
as my own in my life. Playing one day with the boys 
in the street, I won some marbles, and these I after- 
ward sold for sixty cents. Shortly afterward, one of 
my master's guests from Fayetteville (Mr. Hogg) was 
so pleased*^ith my attentions as house-servant, that he 
gave me on leaving one dollar. 

"To tliis, from a similar source, was added another ; 
and my master's son, for some favor done him, gave 
me fifty cents. 

" These sums, though small, appeared large in my 
estimation ; and hope again revived in my bosom that 
at some future time, by perseverance and economy, I 
might purchase my freedom. Henceforth I longed for 
money, and plans for money-making took principal pos- 
session of my thoughts. Often at night after my duties 
at my master's house were performed, I would steal 
away with my axe upon my shoulder, and get a load 
of wood to cut for twenty-five cents, and on the next 
morning would receive a reprimand, and at times barely 
escape a whipping for the offence. By these continued 
efforts I at last accumulated twenty dollars." 

He now began, as we learn from his statements, to 
think seriously of buying himself; and cheered by this 



22 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

hope, he went on from one thing to another, laboring 
often at "dead of night," after the long and weary- 
day's task for his master was completed. By this means 
he accumulated one hundred dollars. 

This sum he kept hid sometimes in one place and 
sometimes in another. He dared not lend it or place it 
on interest, for fear of exciting suspicion or losing it. 



CHAPTER II. 

*' Come hither, ye that press your beds of down 
And sleep not; see him sweating o'er his bread 
Before he eats it. 'Tis the primal curse, 
But softened into mercy; made the pledge 
Of cheerful days and nights without a groan." 



HIS EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOai:. 

ENCOURAGED by past success, he now economizes 
every moment of his time, rising long before day 
and retiring late at night, that he may add something to 
the concealed sum consecrated to the purchase of his 
personal freedom. As yet he dared not speak out, even 
to his intimate friends, the great thought that burned 
within him. As steward and waiter in his master's 
house, he is attentive to all his wishes, and careful in 
the expenditure of funds placed in his keeping. He 
was thus intrusted with the purchase of almost every 
article needed for their daily food. , 

He would meet the poor farmers long before sunrise, 
at their places in the market, and make his purchases ; 
he would even gratify the vanity of the family, (the Play- 
woods,) by a little display in the manner of his trades ; 
these were generous ; and such as to convey the idea 
to by-standers that he was acting for the aristocracy of 
the town. If chickens were wanted, he ordered them 
by the dozen. These were carefully placed in coops 
until consumed. Sometimes he purchased on his own 

23 



24 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

account when salable articles were offered at low 
prices ; these he stored in cellars of merchants of his 
acquaintance, and furnished to the families of the town 
as they were needed. In this way he increased the 
sum which he knew would be demanded for his free- 
dom. But his efforts ceased not here. Fortunately for 
him his duties at his master's mansion were not severe ; 
besides, they admitted of his attendance upon other 
things during several hours of the day, when his ser- 
vices were not needed. These moments he spent in- 
dustriously at the various stores in town in arranging 
their goods upon the sidewalk, and in certain labors 
that could be performed in the morning or evening 
without consuming much time. Being famous as a 
waiter, he was often called upon to attend evening par- 
ties, and for his valuable services on such occasions he 
was liberally compensated. At the season of the year 
when the Legislature was in session was his greatest 
harvest. Members having their private rooms at hotels 
or boarding-houses, were generally waited upon by ser- 
vants of the wealthy in town who knew how to attend 
to their wants. Lunsford soon found himself a great 
favorite ; and he knew well how to make the best use of 
his time and talents. The members, though not early 
risers (except when the fox or the deer hunt was on 
hand), required his services early in the morning. 
Their boots were to be pohshed, their clothes brushed, 
and the early morning bitters mixed and brought to 
their bedsides. Mr. Lane declares that intemperance 
among the members at this period was fearful to con- 
template. Few ever retired at night, among the younger 



EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. 25 

members, who were not in some degree intoxicated, 
and often needing the attentions of these faithful slaves 
to see them safe in bed. Before leaving Raleigh, how- 
ever, he had the satisfaction of witnessing the beneficial 
effects of the great Temperance Reformation of 1840, 
which swept over the North and the South. 

Mr. Lane also furnished the members of the Legisla- 
ture with their smoking-tobacco, and bad as the habit 
confessedly is, he succeeded in obtaining considerable 
gain from this little traffic. His father 'had taught him 
a mode of preparing the weed in a style which made it 
quite agreeable to his customers. 

As this tobacco trade subsequently assumed consider- 
able importance in a pecuniary way, it may be well to 
notice Mr. Lane's statement in reference to it. He 
says that this mode of preparing smoking-tobacco was 
quite new ; nothing like it had been sold in Raleigh be- 
fore. It had the twofold advantage of giving the to- 
bacco a peculiar flavor, and of enabling him to manu- 
facture a good article out of a very indifferent material. 
He improved, he says, upon the suggestion, and com- - 
menced the manufacture on a larger scale, doing, as 
usual, all his work at night. The tobacco he put into 
papers of about a quarter of a pound each and sold 
them at fifteen cents. But as the tobacco could not be 
smoked without a pipe, and as he imagined he had 
given the former a flavor peculiarly grateful, it " occur- 
red to me that I might so construct a pipe as to cool 
the smoke in passing through it, and thus meet the 
wishes of those who are more fond of smoke than heat. 
This I effected by means of a reed which grows plejiti- 



26 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

fully in that region. I made a passage through the 
reed with a hot wire, polished it, and attached a clay- 
pipe to the end, so that the smoke should be cooled in 
flowing through the stem." These pipes he sold at ten 
cents apiece. In the early part of the night he would 
sell the tobacco and pipes, and manufacture in the latter 
part. His trade in town and with members of the Legis- 
lature, made him somewhat famous, not only in the 
city, but throughout the State, as a tobacconist. Thus 
he was able to make even the vices of the Southron to 
contribute to the one great object of his life, — the secur- 
ing of his personal freedom. 

Perceiving that he was getting on so well in business, 
he began, slave as he was, to think about taking a wife. 
The fearful responsibility of such a step he was not in a 
situation, as yet, to contemplate. His first advances 
were made, as he says, to a Miss Lucy Williams, a slave 
of Thomas Devereaux, Esq., an eminent lawyer in the 
place ; but he was destined to fail in the undertaking. 
Discouraged in his first effort, for a time he had almost 
determined never to marry. At the end of two or three 
years this resolution gradually grew less controlling, 
and he set out again in pursuit of a companion to share 
his joys and sorrows. Fortunately his choice was a 
good one. The bargain between Miss Martha Curtis 
and himself was not long in being completed. He next 
proceeded to her master, Mr. Boylan, and asked him, 
according to the loose custom, if he might " marry his 
woman Martha." His reply was, " Yes, if you will be- 
have yourself." " I said I would try." " And will you 
make lierltehave horself?" To this also be assented. 



EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. 27 

" The approbation of my master was granted Avithout 
difficulty." So in May, 1828, he was united as fast in 
the bonds of marriage as any slave can be. He knew 
well that the bond could, at any moment, be severed at 
the will of either master, the bond not being recognized 
by the laws of the South. " One year after our mar- 
riage we were blessed with a son, and at the end of two 
with a daughter. In the mean time, in accordance with 
my fears, my wife had passed from the hands of Mr. 
Boylan into those of Mr. Benj. B. Smith, a merchant, 
a member and class-leader in the Methodist Church, 
and in much repute for his ardent piety and devotion 
to religion. This I deemed a fortunate circumstance ; 
but I soon found that grace had not touched his nature 
in the same degree, in giving him a generous heart to- 
ward his slave, now my wife, as I had observed in her 
former kind master, Mr. Boylan. Before, she had suf- 
ficient food and clothing to render her comfortable ; 
now I was compelled to draw from my slender re- 
sources to make up what was deficient. Mr. Boylan 
was regarded as a very kind master to all his slaves, 
especially his house-servants, and I seldom heard com- 
plaints of cruelties inflicted upon his field-hands. I 
had often been informed that the overseer upon his 
nearest plantation — I knew but little of the others — 
was a very cruel man, and in one instance, he had been 
known to whip a man to death ; but no notice was taken 
of this case, and it was easy to persuade the public that 
his death resulted from some other cause. Still, it was 
the choice of my wife to pass into the hands of Mr. 
Smith, as she had become attached to him in conse- 



28 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

(lucnce of belonging to the same church, and receiv- 
ing his rehgious instruction and counsel as her class- 
leader, and in consequence of the peculiar devotedness 
to the cause of religion for which he was noted, and 
which he always seemed to manifest. But, strange as 
it may seem, as her master, he withheld, both from her 
and her children, the needful food and clothing, whilst 
he exacted from them, to the uttermost, all the labor 
they were able to perform. Almost every article of 
clothing worn either by my wife or children, especially 
every article of much value, I had to purchase, wliile the 
food he furnished the family amounted to less than a 
meal a day, and that of the coarser kind. I have no 
remembrance that he ever gave us a blanket or any 
oth«r article of bedding, although it is considered a 
rule at the South that the master shall furnish each of 
his slaves with one blanket a year. So that, both as to 
food and clothing, I had in fact to support both my 
wife and the children, wliile he claimed them as his 
property and received all their labor." The reader of 
this narrative will no doubt think it passing strange 
how a Christian man could thus impose upon a poor 
dave, compelhng him, in fact, to support his own house- 
servant, whilst he derived all the value of her labor. 
Possibly he was aware of her husband's industry, and 
his readiness in accumulating money, and yet he was 
still a slave, and their masters are bound by every 
legal and moral obligation to provide for their support. 
But slavery is demoralizing' in its influence upon every 
class over which it holds its sway. Let the mind once 
embrace the heresy that the negro is a chattel, to be 



EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. 29 

bought and sold, with no natural inalienable riglit to 
freedom, to own his own labor, and you may readily 
account for the whole black catalogue of the wrongs 
that have been inflicted upon the iinofll^nding race. 
His wife, although a member of the same church to 
which Mr. Smith belonged, had not even a chance to 
prove that she was honest in the affairs of the house- 
hold. Her mistress gave out the articles to be cooked 
for the table, and watched the food so closely that she 
always required that it should all be returned. When 
the table was cleared away, the stern old lady would sit 
by and see that every dish (except the very meagre 
amount sent into the kitchen) was put away, then she 
would turn the key, feeling sure that her slaves would 
not commit the sin of wasting the bounties of Heaven. 
This was not precisely so at her former master, Mr. 
Boylan's, nor at his own. " Corn-bread and some meat 
were furnished in sufficient amounts to satisfy all the 
demands of nature, and on this ground I had no com- 
plaint to make of my master, Mr. Haywood. I remem- 
ber, when a boy, it was the habit of the family to set the 
pot-liquor, in which the meat was boiled for the ' Great 
House,' together with some of the corn-meal balls that 
had been thrown in before the meat was done, in the 
centre of the yard ; and a clam-shell or pewter spoon was 
given to each of the children, who gathered around the 
large tray into which the liquor was poured, and were 
as ravenous as pigs over the delicious fare. The dignified 
people of the house would stand upon the piazza and 
order the more stout and greedy ones to eat slower, 
that those more young and feeble might have a chance. 

3* 



30 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

But even these favors were not allowed by Mr. Smith, 
kind man as he no doubt considered himself. I soon 
found that the expense of providing for my wife and 
children made large inroads upon my scanty earnings. 
All I had earned, and all I could earn, by my labor at 
night, was consumed, until I found myself reduced to 
five dollars, and this I lost while on an errand to the 
plantation. My bright hopes appeared now almost to 
vanish; every prop seemed giving way under me. Dark 
despair possessed my soul, respecting my freedom. I 
began now to realize the wretchedness of my situation 
as I had not done before. I was a slave, a husband, 
the father of two children, a family looking up to me 
for bread, my wife and her offspring also slaves, and I' 
penniless. I had, too, a well-grounded suspicion that I 
was watched by my master, his wife, and his children, 
lest I should, perchance, catch the friendly light of the 
stars, to make something to supply the cravings of na- 
ture in those to whom I was bound by most sacred ties. 
They feared, too, I might be arranging some plan of 
freedom, by my midnight toil, after the day's labor Was 
over, and they enjoying the hours in pleasure or sleep. 



CHAPTER III 



" I think that no ship of state was ever freighted with a more veritable Jonah than this domestic 
iiiKtitution of ours. Mephistopheles himself could not feign so bitterly, so satirically sad a sight 
as these four millions of human beings crushed beyond help or hope by this one mighty argument, 
— Our Fatheks Knew no Better. Nevertheless, it is the unavoidable destiny of Jonahs to 

be cast overboard sooner or later Let us, then, with equal foresight and wisdom, lash 

ourselves to the anchor, and await, in pious confidence, the certain result." 



INCIDENTS BY THE WAT — JOURXEY TO WASHINGTON, N. C- 
A TROUBLESOME COMPANION - SLAVERY DEFENDED - CON- 
DEMNED OUT OF THEIR OWN MOtTHS. 

THE condition of Liinsford, as body-servant and wait- 
er in bis master's fine mansion, with an abundance 
to eat and to drink, and clothed in comfortable raiment, 
would have made a man less sensitive than himself, 
happy. The only element lacking in his cup of enjoy- 
ment was freedom. He was still a Slave. This im- 
bittered every pleasure. The passion for liberty took 
possession of his whole nature, and he used every mo- 
ment of leisure, Jind every device consistent with integ- 
rity of character, to secure this end. Even the lavish 
kindnesses of his master and the family, of many amia- 
ble sons and daughters, who prized him on account of his 
intelligence, politeness, and amiable deportment, could 
not divert him from the goal of his desires. One day, 
calling upon the tailor, Litchford, to be measured for a 
new suit of clothes, — for it was the custom of his master 
to send him to the same tailor's at which his own clothes 
and those of his sons were made, — the patronizing tailor, 

31 



32 MEMOIR OF LUxXSFORD LANE. 

after securing his measure, speaking of the happiness 
of his situation compared with that of thousands upon 
the plantations, said, " I suppose Lane, nothing could 
induce you to become a free man. You would not take 
your freedom if it were offered you. You must be a 
happy man to be allowed to wear such fine clothes as 
these your master has ordered you." Lane hesitated 
to reply, revolving in his mind, as to whether the clothes 
were not to be used to gratify the pride of the family, 
in whose presence and that of their fashionable guests 
they were to be worn, or to administer to his own com- 
fort, and then fearing he might defeat the main object 
of all his efforts, by intimating that he was anything 
but happy as the slave of so kind a master, at length 
replied, " Oh, of course, no person ever had so kind a 
master as Mr. H. I often think myself very ungrateful 
(to the Lord, he said mentally) for the favors I re- 
ceive." Lunsford had too much sense to excite the 
ill-will of his master by circulating reports in the com- 
munity of the unhappiness of his situation ; besides, 
many would say. If Lane is unsatisfied and desires free- 
dom, how can we ever succeed in pacifying this ungrate- 
ful race ; even food and raiment as good as ourselves 
and our children wear, are not sufficient ; they would 
turn from the thresholds of their benefactors, and live 
in poverty that they might be free. Is their freedom 
so dear that they would purchase it at the expense of 
enduring physical wretchedness ? These advocates of 
slavery never go deep enough into the subject to see 
the powerful incentive oi free labor ^ in securing that 
undisturbed soci'al happiness, for which every human 
being should strive and for which they were made. 



JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON, N. C. 38 

Oil entering the house, Lunsford found the family in 
a considerable state of pleasant excitement about a visit 
to Washington,* on the Tar River, and as this was only 
some fifty miles beyond Mr. Haywood's plantation, near 
Tarboro', they determined to call there upon their re- 
turn. Mr. H. had two married daughters living at 
Washington, and Mrs. H., with one or more of the un- 
married ones, often joined him on these expeditions. 
Being an ambitious woman, she felt a desire to witness 
the prosperity of her family abroad ; to see how the 
promising grandchildren of the Haywoods had been 
benefited by the wise training her own had received, 
and which ought to be seen in its matured fruits in 
them ; besides, might not Miss Eliza and Miss Lucy be 
as fortunate as their sisters, and Washington might pre- 
sent inducements leading to their permanent residence. 
North Carolina did not abound, in those days, in thrifty 
enterprising villages, located at frequent intervals along 
its highways, and hence the traveller, when he left his 
comfortable mansion, left also many of the conveniences 
of living. The country between Ealeigh and the Tar 
River, and thence to Washington, was by no means 
thickly settled, and but few comfortable public houses 
were to be found, — generally at the cross-roads a place 
called a tavern, where a man might find a night's lodg- 
ing and fodder for his horse, but beyond this it was in 
vain for him to look. The Haywoods, however, were 
old readers ; they had often been over this portion of 
the State, and hence the character of the preparation 

* This place is at present held by the U. S. forces. In tlie siege of Washington, 
the slaves were found Mthful, and assisted the forces greatly. 



34 MEMOIR OF LUNSFOBD LANE. 

they now made. A day or two was given to baking and 
boiling. The ample basket, made to fit most conven- 
iently under the driver's seat, was filled with boiled 
tongue and cheese and biscuit and sweet buns, to 
which was added a flask of brandy, and one of wine, — 
good scuppernong. This furnished for the inner man, 
other preparations were speedily completed. Lunsford, 
as driver, was reinforced by an additional servant-man 
in Jake, a likely negro, whose heels exhibited almost as 
much enjoyment as his eyes, at the idea of seeing so 
much of the country, and then the stock of knowledge 
gained by the expected adventures was no mean consid- 
eration. The family carriage was at length brought to 
the mansion ; and now commenced the process of stow- 
ing the luggage necessary for the human freight. Mrs. 
H. was a woman of large ideas for one of her education, 
but these ideas were not in the region of metaphysics, 
or history, or philosophy, but nevertheless she thought 
she filled a large space in the world, and that many 
eyes in the town were turned upon her, and she did not 
wish to disappoint them. If her neighbors did not 
know that Mrs. H. and daughters were about to leave 
town in their coach-and-two, attended by four servants, 
two as driver and attendant, and two as waiting-maids, 
why, it was not her fault. The carriage had now been 
waiting over two hours, and it was near nine o'clock 
before the ladies made their appearance. Its doors had 
been opened and shut a dozen times by the servants, 
to add to its contents of eatables. At length they came. 
" Lunsford," said Mrs. H., "I hope you ha,ve the horses 
in good condition ; take us through the town at a brisk 



35 

pace." It was a pleasant day in October, and the 
weather at that season in the South is warm and genial, 
and Nature seems as yet to have had no thought of dis- 
robing herself for the long slumber of winter ; the birds 
were beginning to gather in flocks, and though many 
flowers had ceased to bloom, many new candidates 
were demanding our attention and inviting us to enjoy 
their delicious odors. The Haywoods were in the habit 
of patronizing only one public house, on their frequent 
journeyings to Washington, and this house was kept by 
Jake Wilson, whose ideas, it is true, were not quite up 
to those of the proprietors of the Astor or the St. Nich- 
olas, yet his intentions were the best in the world, 
and I suppose his taste was good for the locality. But 
the Haywoods had no intention of eating in his house ; 
they only desired to stretch their limbs and rest for the 
night. They had taken care that provender for the 
inner man was not lacking, though they might desire 
some for their horses and the chattels. Besides, Wil- 
son's house was convenient, as it was reached at the 
close of a day's drive, at a cross-road forty miles on their 
way. 

After Mrs. H. and daughters had retired to their 
rooms, Lunsford and Jake, wrapped in their blankets, 
threw themselves, in the more democratic style, on the 
floor near the kitchen fire, not far from the landlord's 
dog and cat, which had already composed their limbs 
to sleep. Bright and early the party set out on the 
following morning, and by three in the afternoon reach 
their destination. Of course there was the usual amount 
of kissing ; and the littls^ ones jumped up and down at 



oO MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

tlie bare hint of the presents yet unloaded from the am- 
ple box of the carriage. Washington, in those days, 
was the seat of considerable trade with the North. The 
cotton and corn and bacon of the rich region bordering 
upon the Tar River was floated down to this point and 
then sent to New York in vessels, by way of Pamlico 
Sound. But slavery, which has blighted all the South, 
has smothered all enterprise and kept it an inferior vil- 
lage, when its position would, had it enjoyed the enter- 
prise of free labor, have made it a thriving city. Mrs. 
H. was, therefore, a great accession to the society 
of the place, and her arrival would have been announ- 
ced in the village paper, had there been one. The three 
days of her stay was enough to satisfy her that things 
weye not going very badly, and she hastened her de- 
parture so that she might have some time to visit the 
plantations on the way home. On the evening before 
they were to leave, a few friends had been invited in by 
the daughters, and among them Mr. Jaquith, from the 
North, who had been for several years engaged in teach- 
ing in the place ; and, although he had married the 
daughter of one of his patrons, he had not lost any of 
his aversion to slavery. In the course of the conversa- 
tion, which turned upon the subject of slavery, he was 
contrasting the thrift and enterprise of Northern towns 
and villages with the lack of the same qualities to be 
found in Slave States. Here the soil and climate were 
far superior ; and, " if free, requited labor were only 
added, what a paradise should we behold," said he, in 
reply to the remarks of Mrs. H. " Ah, madam ! within 
the pestilential atmosphere of slavery, nothing succeeds. 



A TROUBLESOME COMPANION. 37 

Progress and prosperity are unknown ; inanition and 
slotlifulness ensue ; everything becomes dull, dismal 
and uncomfortable ; wretchedness and desolation stand 
or lie in bold relief throughout the land ; and an aspect 
of most melancholy inactivity and dilapidation broods 
over every city and town ; and ignorance and prejudice 
sit enthroned over the minds of the people." 

" Why, Mr. Jaquith, you perfectly astonish me by 
the extravagance of these remarks, and had you not 
married a Southern lady, you would be in danger of a 
coat of tar and feathers." 

"Yes, madam, the best argument I suppose you 
capable of replying. Had I time, I could produce abun- 
dant testimony from Southern statesmen and others, all 
concurring in the view I have given of the institution. 
Not many years since, Thomas Marshall stated in the 
Yirginia Legislature, that ' Slavery is ruinous to the 
whites. It retards improvement, roots out an industri- 
ous population, banishes the yeomanry of the country, 
deprives the spinner, the weaver, the smith, the shoe- 
maker, the carpenter of employment and support.' " 

"I admit that Judge Marshall held many very un- 
sound opinions on the subject, but you will find few 
Southerners of much ability or reputation agreeing 
with him." 

" In the Yirginia Convention held not many years 
since, where this whole subject was discussed, many of 
Yirginia's ablest sons did not hesitate to utter the hon- 
est convictions of their minds in regard to the ruin 
which slavery was bringing upon the land. 

"The Hon. C. F. Mercer there declared — but I \^'A\ 

4 



38 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

give you his very words ; " and taking from the library 
the volume of the reports of the Virginia Convention 
of 1829, he read the following words from Mr. Mercer's 
speech : — '"As I descended the Chesapeake the other 
day, I thought of the early descriptions of Virginia by 
the followers of Raleigh and Smith, and I said to my- 
self. How much it has lost of its primitive loveliness ! 
Does the eye dwell with most pleasure on its wasted 
fields, or its stunted forests of secondary growth of pine 
and cedar ? Can we dwell but with mournful regret on 
temples of religion sinking into ruin, and those spacious 
dwellings whose doors, once opened by the hand of lib- 
eral hospitality, are now fallen upon their portals or 
closed in tenantless silence ? Except on the banks of 
its rivers, the march of desolation saddens this once 
beautiful country. The cheerful notes of population 
have ceased. The wolf and wild-deer, no longer scared 
from their ancient haunts, have descended from the 
mountains to the plains. They look on the graves of 
our ancestors and traverse their former paths.' " 

" Now, Mr. Jaquith, you know that is only the rhe- 
torical flourish of a politician, who was speaking to 
gratify some of his Western Virginia friends ; and you 
know the western part of that State is of comparatively 
recent settlement, and has had no chance to experience 
the blessing- and the wealth of slavery." 

"And I trust, madam, in her further settlement 
and progress she never will. But I will read you 
one other opinion of a young and rising statesman, 
C. J. Faulkner, who was a member of the Virginia 
Legislature in 1832. I have the volume here ; he 



SLAVERY DEFENDED AND CONDEMNED. 39 

says, 'If there be one who believes in the harmless 
character of this institution, let him compare the con- 
dition of the slaveholding portion of this common- 
wealth, barren, desolate, and seared as it were by the 
avenging hand of Heaven, with the descriptions we 
have of this country from those who first broke its 
soil. To what is the change ascribable ? Alone to 
the withering and blasting effects of slavery ; to that 
vice in the organization of society by which one-half 
of its inhabitants are arrayed in interests and feeling 
against the other half. Let me refer the mcredulous to 
the two States of Kentucky and Ohio. No difference 
of soil, no diversity of climate, no diversity in the origi- 
nal settlement of those two States, can account for the 
remarkable disproportion in their national advance- 
ment. Separated by a river alone, they seem to have 
been purposely and providentially designed to exhibit 
in their future histories the difference which necessarily 
results from a country free from the curse of slavery, 
and a country afflicted with it. The same may be said 
of the two States of Missouri* and Illinois.' But I 
have one other testimony which should certainly have 
great weight with all Southerners. George Washing- 
ton,! in a letter to Sir John Sinclair, speaks of the ex- 
hausted condition of the land in Maryland and Virginia, 
particularly in the vicinity of Mount Yernon, where 
plantations were not worth more than five dollars an 
acre. He states that the price of land in Pennsylvania 

* At the time of this present writing, IMissouri, having passed througli a bap- 
tism of blood, is about abolishing slavery, in which Congress may grant aid to 
the amount of $20,000,000. 

t See Mrs. L. Maria Child's tract on the Patriarchal Institution. 



40 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

averaged more than twice that amount, giving as a rea- 
son, that emigrants were attracted thither ' because 
there are in Pennsylvania laws for the gradual abolition 
of slavery, which neither Maryland nor Virginia have 
at present ; but which nothing is 77iore certain than that 
they must have, and at a period not remote.'' You and 
I have lived to see slavery abolished in Pennsylvania, 
and the wealth and enterprise of its citizens far sur- 
passing her neighbors, Maryland and Virginia. The 
day of North Carolina's deliverance must come, and 
let us pray that it may not come in blood ! " 

At this moment, Lunsford entei-ed and said, " I beg 
your pardon, mistress, for interrupting your conversa- 
tion ; but as we are to leave early in the morning on 
our journey homeward, I came to ask if you have any 
special orders about preparations for leaving? " 

" Ko, Lunsford ; you have always carried us safely 
through, so far, and I shall leave matters wholly in 
your hands; see that the other servants retire early, 
and have us all up by five." 

Mr. Jaquith, as he looked at Lunsford and saw his 
fine form, his ease and grace of manner, his intelli- 
gence, and correct use of language, said to himself, 
" This man is out of his place ; Nature has endowed 
him with rare abilities ; and as a freeman, with a 
Northern education, he might rise to eminence, and 
become a deliverer of his race." Bidding good-even- 
ing to his friends, he wended his way homeward, reflect- 
ing upon the selfishness of human nature in cherishing 
sins certain in the end to defeat the object of life's bat- 
tle, — the securhig of happiness. 



THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD. 41 

The sun was just creeping over the hills as Lunsford, 
with the ladies, drove out of the town ; the slaves were 
just departing from their cabins to the fields to enter 
upon the day's labor. As they stopped at the first 
watering-place to rest the horses a moment, they were 
overtaken by a cousin of the young ladies, who owned a 
farm near Tarboro'. As Mrs. H. and the two daughters 
had no gentleman in their party, (though they felt per- 
fectly safe in the hands of their trusty slaves,) Mr. Gait 
insisted upon making one of the party as far as Wilson's 
tavern, though this would take him some twenty miles 
out of his way. Mr. Gait had been to Washington to 
recover a runaway man-servant, whom he found secured 
in prison, awaiting the owner's call. 

The man was strongly bound, both hands and feet, 
and tied to the back seat of his dog-wagon; — a style 
of vehicle quite fashionable in England among the 
gentry, the hinder portion being arranged for the con- 
veyance of their dogs when in the chase. 

Although Mrs. Haywood did not quite relish the 
idea of Mr. Gait and his bound slave in their party 
upon the public highway, their relationship forbade her 
intimating in his presence anything but pleasure at their 
good fortune in securing his company ; but he had no 
sooner fallen behind a short distance than she said, in 
very decided terms, in which she was overheard by the 
servants on the box, "I wish Gait and his runaway 
had followed their own way, and not troubled us with 
their company ; many people will think I have been to 
Washington on the mean errand of slave-catching." 
Now, Mrs. Haywood, who felt so badly in this particular 

4* 



4li MEMOIR OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

case, would have had no objection, had any slave of 
hers escaped, to having him brought home under al- 
most any other circumstances than the present. But 
as it could not be helped, they conversed as pleas- 
antly as their relative positions in the two vehicles 
would admit. About noon they arrived at a spring by 
the roadside, which sent up into the bright sunlight its 
double columns of refreshing water. This was a place 
famous to travellers and pedestrians, who were in the 
habit of spreading their repast here, in the shade of the 
adjacent grove. While Lunsford and the man Jake 
attended to the horses, the maid-servants brought out 
the basket of fried chicken and other inviting refresh- 
ments and spread them upon the ground. Mr. Gait, 
leaving his wagon in Lunsford's care by the roadside, 
had joined the party, and was busily engaged in doing 
the honors of the rural board ; and so interested had he 
become in the gossip of his fair cousins that he had for 
the time forgotten the runaway. Lunsford and Jake, 
up to this time, had not interchanged a word with the 
bound negro ; and yet the language of the eyes and cer- 
tain gestures had established very satisfactory relations 
between them. At intervals the slave was observed 
bending his head in the direction of his hands and feet, 
and apparently using his teeth. At last, after no little 
effort, his hands are freed, and in a moment the cords 
are loosed ; and with no apparent alarm or perturbation 
of mind, he quietly steps from the wagon and joins the 
servants, Lunsford and Jake, who are hidden from the 
party in the grove by the family carriage. 

" Mr. Gait," at length said Mrs. Haywood, " you 



INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. 48 

have a troublesome negro there, I suppose ; what is his 
fault ? " 

" Fault ! why, this is the third time the rascal has run 
away; and it is only nine months since I purchased 
him in Washington, where, I understand, he has a wife 
and several children. I have almost made up my mind 
never to buy a married negro again ; but, notwithstand- 
ing that, I intend to teach him to remain in his place. 
By the way, I must keep an eye on him, or he will be 
up to some trick." 

He stepped into the road, and finding his man untied, 
and standing composed by Lunsford and the rest, re- 
strained the outburst of rage which prudence told him 
to repress until he had secured his chattel. Approach- 
ing them, he said, — 

"Well, Isaac, whose work is this, — yours or these 
d — d city negroes ? " 

" Massa, I done it myself ; Lunsford nor none of the 
res' didn't do nuffin 'bout it." 

The negro was a powerful fellow, and appeared com- 
pletely self-possessed ; but there was a meaning in his 
look which seemed to say, " You must keep your hands 
off;" besides, a dense wood was on either side of the 
road, and in an instant he could elude pursuit. 

" Now, Isaac, I regret that I am compelled to treat 
you in this way, and I want you to promise me that 
you will behave yourself in future, and return to your 
work." 

" I have always done my work, massa ; but I must 
be allowed to see my wife and children sometimes, and 
the overseer says I shall not. I only want to go once a 
month." 



44 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" Well, what are you going to do now ? " 

"I am going back to Washington" (some twenty 
miles distant) " and see how my family is ; for the 
officers cotched me jus' as I git in town, and lock me 
in de prison." 

" Well," said his master, " it is now Wednesday ; and 
I will give you until Monday morning to see them and 
return to the plantation ; you must be there in season 
to go into the field with the other hands." 

Isaac escapes upon much easier terms than he had 
expected ; and yet this involved a journey afoot of over 
fifty miles, — twenty to Washington and thirty to his 
master's, — a part to be performed on Sunday, during 
the shades of the night ; and yet he left, or was about 
to do so, in a very happy state of mind. 

" Mr. Gait," said Miss Haywood, who had now joined 
them in the road, " you have forgotten that your man 
needs something to eat with such a journey before him ; 
let the servants bring him something ; run, Jane, and 
get him some meat and bread." 

" Well, cousin, since you wish it ; but really, the 
scamp deserves to find his own food, since he has vol- 
untarily left the quarters I have provided him." 

Mr. Gait, finding a long afternoon's ride before him, 
determined to leave his cousins at this point, and, jump- 
ing into his wagon, he bade them good-by, and turned 
off by a cross-road to his plantation near Tarboro'. 

Lunsford and the party reached " Wilson's " as the 
sun was sinking behind the distant hills, pleased to ac- 
cept of the poor accommodations of this poverty-stricken 
inn-keeper. The relaxation from their confined posi- 



INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. 45 

tion in the carriage was refreshing indeed ; and the 
accomi^flodating landlord brought out chairs, — rude 
ones, it is true, — and placed them upon the rickety 
veranda. The cooling breeze was refreshing to the 
weary travellers, and the limpid stream that meandered 
gently by seemed almost to incite them to slake their 
thirst at its edge. The lingering sunbeams were, just 
leaving a golden tinge in the sky. 

" What a delightful evening, mother/' said one of 
the daughters ; " this is what I love, — 

' I love the balmy air of eve, 

With dewy tears and zephyr sighs; 
It doth the ruffled wind relieve, 
And soothes the spirit ere it flies.' 

I love, too, the humming and chirping of these multi- 
tudinous insects in the wood. Their time comes when 
the busy works of man have ceased, and slumber closes 
his eyelids ; their chirping seems to put me to sleep 
immediately." 

" Lunsford," said Mrs. H., when he returned from 
the stable, " we must be off early in the morning. I 
am anxious to reach home early in the afternoon, or 
Mr. Haywood will be uneasy ; I wrote him that he 
might expect us early." 

"■ Yes, mistress, I think you may rely upon me." 
By three in the afternoon of the following day, the 
carriage of the Haywoods was rattling its way over the 
rough pavements of Raleigh ; and Lunsford landed his 
charge in safety at the open door of the mansion, into 
which Mr. H. welcomed his returning family. 



CHAPTER lY. 



*•• Slavery's a thing thet depends on complexion, 

It's God's law tliet fetters on black skins don't chafe; 
Ef brains wus to settle it (horrid reflection I) 
Wich of our onnable body'd be safe?' 
Sez John C. Calhoun, sez he, 
Sez Mister Ilannegan 
Afore he began agin, 
• Thet exception is quite oppertoon,' bA he." 

See Debate in U. 8. Senate. 

'Hold, while ye may, your struggling slaves, and burden God's free air 
With woman's shriek beneath the lash, and manhood's wild despair; 
Cling closer to the ' cleaving curse,' that writes upon your plains 
The blasting of Almighty wrath against a land of chains." 



HIS MASTER'S DEATH — CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM- 
LOVE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN — THE STORY OF MATT. HARr- 
RIS. 

AN event now occurred which cast great gloom 
over the prospects of many of his fellow-slaves. 
Their master died. Mr. Lane and the numerous reti- 
nue of men-servants and women-servants in the house- 
hold and upon the plantations felt a degree of security 
in their position, and in their social relations while 
Mr. Haywood lived. Many of them had families, and 
some a numerous offspring. Being in repute a man 
of great wealth and of kind disposition, they had little 
fear of those heart-rending separations from home and 
kindred that they had observed upon many of the 
neighboring plantations. They never dreamed that his 
sudden death might change every pleasing prospect, 
and put out in darkness the brightest hopes of life. 

48 



HIS master's death. 47 

His widow, by his will, became the sole executrix of his 
large property. To the surprise of all, the bank, of 
which he had been cashier for many years, presented a 
claim against the estate of forty thousand dollars. By 
a compromise, the particulars of which it is unneces- 
sary to mention, this sum was reduced to twenty thou- 
sand dollars. To meet this, several plantations, together 
with all their live stock of men and cattle, had to be 
sold. Some of her best and most trusty slaves were 
hired out. To Lunsford's great joy, he succeeded in 
hiring his own time from his mistress, for which he 
agreed to pay a price varying from one hundred to 
one hundred and twenty dollars per annum. 

This was indeed a privilege which comparatively few 
slaves at the South enjoy, inasmuch as it is in violation 
of the laws of the State, — a slave having no legal 
right to make a contract of this kind which would be 
binding. In Raleigh, it was sometimes winked at. " I 
knew," says he, " one slave man who was doing well 
for himself and for his master, taken up by the public 
authorities and hired out for the public good, three 
times in succession." It was found that the example 
was injurious upon the other slaves, making them rest- 
less and discontented, — this being a quasi freedom 
stimulates to great industry, and often inspires higher 
hopes. In many cases, however, if the slave is orderly, 
gives no intimation of insubordination, and appears to 
be MAKING NOTHING, neither he nor the master is inter- 
fered with. " This relation to my mistress made me too 
happy to think of betraying the confidence now reposed 
in me. 



48 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" I now commenced business for myself, and entered 
upon the manufacture of pipes and tobacco upon a 
large scale. I opened a regular place of business, — a 
humble one, it is true, — and I labelled my tobacco in a 
conspicuous manner, attaching the names of the propri- 
etors, 'EDWARD AND LUNSFORD LANE.' We 
(my father being in the business with pie) pushed the 
enterprise so far as to establish agencies for the sale in 
various parts of the State ; one at Fayette ville, one at 
Salisbury, and one at Chapel Hill ; the latter place 
being the seat of the University of North Carolina and 
of other minor institutions made the place one of con- 
siderable importance for the slaves who were ambitious 
enough to supply the students and the town's people 
with their homely productions, and receive their pocket- 
money in exchange." 

The Lanes managed to get their full share, but it is 
questionable whether the equivalent returned in to- 
bacco and pipes was not greatly to the detriment of the 
rising generation. 

The influence of Father Trask had not as yet extended 
so far as Raleigh, and his tracts on this important sub- 
ject would have been but "dead letters" to the mass 
of the benighted of both colors. He sold these articles 
also at his own unpretending shop, and about town, 
and also deposited them in stores on commission. 
" Thus, after paying my mistress what was considered 
the full value of my time, and rendering such support 
as was necessary to my family, I found in the space of 
some six or eight years I had collected the sum of one 
thousand dollars ; and this was in addition to paying 



CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM. 49 

my mistress over one thousand dollars, as stated in the 
first chapter, for the privilege of laboring' for myself to 
which God and nature had already given me an inalien- 
able right. Fearful that the accumulation of so mucl] 
money miglit prove disastrous to my hopes, should it be 
known, I deemed it politic, du'ring all this time, to go 
shabbily dressed, and to appear as poor as possible, but 
to pay my mistress for my services promptly. My funds 
I kept hid, never venturing to lend or invest a penny 
in anything likely to create suspicion ; nor did I let any 
one but my wife know that I was making any. 

'' Supposing that one thousand dollars was about the 
amount my mistress would ask for my freedom, I deter- 
mined what course to pursue. Going to her, I casually 
asked her price, provided I should desire my freedom. 
She said she would be satisfied with one thousand dol- 
lars. I then frankly told her I greatly desired my free- 
dom, and asked if she was ready to execute the deed, 
provided I could find some person whom I could trust, 
by whom the purchase hi my behalf could be made." 
The reader should remember that no slave has the 
right, according to Southern laws, to make such a con- 
tract, not even to purchase himself. Even the money 
he had accumulated through those long years of toil 
belonged to his mist^'ess, and had she been bad enough, 
she could have compelled him, by law, to transfer all his 
possessions, while a slave, to her hands. " I had known 
instances of slaves who had paid a portion of the 
money demanded for their freedom, and had yet been 
cruelly retained in servitude. My mistress, covetous 
as she was of money, thought too mnch of her reputa- 



50 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

tion for good breeding to be guilty of so base a piece of 
injustice. 

"One instance of this kind occurred in Raleigh which 
made a deep impression on me at the time. 

"An intelligent and active man-servant, belonging to 
a neighbor of my master, who bore not the best reputa- 
tion for honesty in his business relations, was offered 
his freedom by the payment of eight hundred dollars. 
He set himself industriously to work ; hired his time ; 
went to Chapel Hill; opened a little shop, and after 
several years of hard toil laid by four hundred dollars, 
which he took to his master and paid as the first in- 
stalment, — one-half of the purchase money. After 
receiving the money, he informed his slave that he 
had changed his mind as to his value and the amount 
to be paid, demanding, as a condition of his freedom, 
eight hundred dollars, making twelve hundred ! The 
utter hopelessness of his condition at first almost 
crushed him ; finally, the feeling of the unmitigated 
wrong which he had suffered aroused him to renewed 
efforts to secure his freedom at all hazards. He procured 
from his master a pass to trade in different portions of 
the State and in Virginia ; the cupidity of his master 
induced him to grant it readily ; by a series of skilful 
manoeuvres he succeeded in travelling not only through 
North Carolina and Virginia, but into the Free States ; 
and I had the pleasure several years after of taking 
him by the hand in the streets of Boston. By the 
guidance of a kind Providence I was more successful 
in my present effort, but it was not accomplished with- 
out difticultv. T found in mv wife's master, Mr. Smith, 



CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM. 51 

a man whom 1 could trust. Upon consulting with Mr. 
Smith, I determined to give him my money, intrusting 
him with the negotiation with my mistress ; it was de- 
termined best, that he should purchase my freedom, 
holding me nominally as his slave until I could be 
formally and legally emancipated. The laws forbade 
emancipation, except in one case, i. e. ' meritorious 
conduct,' and as I could not claim the benefit of this 
exception the (jfFort was fruitless. I made personal appli- 
cation to the court, but it was judged that I had done 
nothing ' meritorious ; ' and thus I remained the slave 
of Mr. Smith for one year, when, feeling unsafe in 
that relation, I accompanied him to New York, whither 
he was going to purchase goods, and there I was legally 
and in due form made a FREjEMAN, and there my 
manumission is recorded. I returned with Mr. Smith 
to Raleigh, where I hoped to live in peace in the society 
of my family and friends, and to care for my little 
household as a freeman should. I had known in 
mental agony, that I cannot describe, what it was to 
be a slave, and I was in a condition to know what it 
was to be free." 

The change in the condition of Mr. Lane, from that 
of former privations, was indeed great ; the long season 
of toil and waiting issued at last into an exuberant 
joy. Though the road he had trodden was not so 
thori:gr as that of many of his fellow-slaves, yet he felt 
himself most happy at escaping the possibilities of his 
situation. 

In speaking of this portion of his life, he declares to 
the present writer, " I do not desire to dwell upon its 



52 MEMOIR OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

dark features, but upon those portions of my path where 
the light of God's good providence was permitted to 
stream. His goodness had followed me from infancy ; 
and at length I was conducted quite out of the abyss 
of bondage. Cowper's beautiful words seemed well 
suited to express my feelings as I turned my eyes upon 
the past: — 

* When all tliy mercies, O my God, 
My rising soul surveys, 
Transported with the view, I'm lost 
In wonder, love, and praise.' 

I had endured what a freeman of the North would 
have called hard usage ; but my lot upon the wliole 
had been a favored one as a slave. It is known that 
there is a wide difference in the situations of what are 
termed house-servants and plantation-hands. I, though 
sometimes employed upon the plantation, belonged to 
the former, which is the favored class. My master was 
esteemed a kind and humane man, and in almost every 
respect I fared differently from the many poor slaves, 
whose sorrows in life I knew well, some of them hope- 
lessly confined to the plantation, with not enough food, 
and that little of the coarsest kind, insufficient to 
satisfy the gnawing of hunger ; compelled oftentimes 
to steal away in the night season, when worn down 
with excessive labor, and appropriate such things as 
they could lay their hands upon, and privately devour 
them in their cabins ; made to feel the rigors of bond- 
age with no cessation ; torn away sometimes from the 
lew friends whom they dared to love, friends doubly 



LOVE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN. 58 

dear because they were few ; at times transported to 
a climate where, in a few years they die, and then 
borne without ceremony, and with few mourners, to 
their last resting-place beneath the sod, the burial-place 
being a corner of a field upon the master's plantation, 
which before many years will be ploughed and sown 
and reaped as other acres. It is true, at times, in the 
cool evening, and even during the hours of toil, the air 
is enlivened by a merriment wliich, even in its rude 
style, serves to mitigate the sorrows of their lot. Such 
I knew to be the fate of plantation slaves generally, 
but such was not mine, and I thanked God and took 
courage. My way was comparatively far happier, and, 
what is better, led to freedom. God had given me great 
powers of endurance and a disposition to labor. My 
wife and children were still with me, and to live for 
them was a pleasure. After my master's death, my 
mistress, it is true, sold a number of her slaves from 
their families and friends, but not me. Children were 
torn from their parents, but mine were with me still. 
Two husbands had been sold from their wives, but I 
was still unvisited with this sorrow. One wife was sold 
from her husband, but mine was still left to comfort 
me. With me, and in my humble home, the tender 
tendrils of the heart still clung to where they had 
entwined, — like the pleasant vine that clung about the 
entrance to our cabin, its shade and its fruits were 
delicious to our taste. Still we knew and we felt that 
we were slaves, and did not venture to peer into the 
future." 

The compiler of this biography, having been born in 

6* 



54 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

the South and well acquainted with the institution of 
slavery, and the many circumstances which lead to the 
separation of families, can well account for the undis- 
turU^ed relation of Lunsford Lane in this respect. It is 
true that the strong attachment to home and family 
he evinced does not pertain to a majority of the slaves, 
though the institution is responsible for all this. Where 
families are to be separated due consideration is made 
in regard to those where this family attachment is not 
strong ; these may be sold first. In this respect there 
is a fearful laxity of morals, the immediate result of 
slavery. And yet thousands are governed by very 
high and pure motives and attachments, and when the 
master can^ he hesitates to sever ties of so sacred a 
kind. But in many instances even humane masters 
have no control over their property, and in more in- 
stances the barbarism of slavery has crushed in their 
hearts the emotions of humanity. 

The writer, who has quite an extensive acquaintance 
in some of the Southern States, is convinced, allowing 
for the difference in social condition and education, 
that the attachment and strength of moral obligation 
exhibited in the colored race, free and slave, are as 
strong as they are to be found anywhere. 

In instances where the tie is uncommonly strong, and 
an attempt is made to separate the family, we have wit- 
nessed the most heroic efforts, on the part of slaves, to 
prevent the occurrence of so dreadful an event. The 
history of Lunsford Lane and of others could be ad- 
duced. 

The following narrative h'as recently been published. 



LOVE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN. 55 

and as the writer was personally conversant with the 
facts, the reader may rely upon their entire truthfulness 
and fidelity. It was communicated to a friend in Mas- 
sachusetts by the surgeon of the U. S. ship R. R. Cuyler, 
and occurred in connection with her duty, in the block- 
ade of Mobile.* 

"A few days ago, I happened to be talking with 

, who, though absolutely loyal, is a born Kentuck- 



ian, and a firm believer in the blessings of the ' pecul- 
iar institution.' He was telling me how, on many of 
the large plantations, chaplains were employed to at- 
tend to the spiritual condition of the hands. 

" ' Still,' said I, ' they would like to have a right to 
their own children, I suppose.' 

" ' Oh,' he answered, ' you refer to the separation of 
families. Now I can tell you that I never knew that to 
be done, unless the person sold had been convicted of 
some crime which would send him to a common jail. 
Ten years ago, when my uncle proposed to move to 
Missouri, many of his male slaves had wives owned on 
adjoining plantations. He said to them that if they 
could find some one to give a nominal price for them, 
he should be glad to have them; to which they an- 
swered that they did not wish to leave him. " But what 
will you do about your wives ? " he asked ; and they 
answered, '' Oh, never mind dem ; find plenty more out 

dar." So you will find it,' said ; 'they do not 

think so much of these things as we do.' 

" ' You did not find it so with Matt. Harris,' I an- 
swered. 

*See the Weekly Massachusetts Spy for July, 1S63. 



5G MEMOIR OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

" ' Oh, well ; he is one of ten thousand. I don't 
know many ivMte men who wonld do as he did.' 

"It seems to me that the story of the adventures 
of Matt. Harris deserves all the praise that this gentle- 
man awards it ; and though it may be difficult to de- 
scribe all the obstacles that he met and overcame, so 
that you at that distance will fully comprehend them, 
I hope to set them before you with sufficient plainness 
to command your attention and respect. Matt. Harris 
was born the slave of a man living a few miles above 
Mobile, and has always worked for him on a flat-boat, 
running between his saw-mill and the city. He is now 
about thirty-five years of age, and a free mulatto. 
There is nothing African about his features, except his 
complexion; and his thin, straight nose, full, promi- 
nent brow, with a certain breadth of skull through the 
head in front of the ears, convey to my mind evidences 
of considerable mental capacity. 

" On the ninth of April this man came off to the Col- 
orado, with another, in an open boat. They repre- 
sented that they were three days lying in wait around 
the 'Point,' before they dared to come off, and that 
they were a week getting down the river. In the 
course of a day or two they were transferred to this 
vessel, and I improved the first favorable opportunity to 
speak with Matt, about his history, intentions, and pros- 
pects. In answer to questions, he told me there was 
little to eat around Mobile, which poor people could 
buy ; that he did not run away from loork^ of which he 
says he was not afraid ; that all the slaves around Mobile 
had heard of the President's Proclamation, but did not 



THE STORY OF MATT. HARRIS. 57 

know how it could help them^ and that his only idea 
in coming out was to get some place where he could 
work and get enough to eat. I asked him how he 
knew that we should not send him back, or misuse 
him ? He said that about three months before, Jesse 
had come out in the same manner, and after staying in 
the fleet some time, had suddenly disappeared after the 
vessel went to Pensacola for coal. Suddenly he reap- 
peared in Mobile among his friends, with a most doleful 
story of his sufferings. He had been beaten, starved, 
nearly drowned, and was glad to get back with his life. 
Jesse's story was published in the papers around Mo- 
bile, and Jesse himself ,went on a kind of missionary 
tour among the discontented of his people, to tell them 
what he had suffered. But when he could choose his 
audience, he told his people that he was perfectly well 
used, and when he could manage to get his wife away 
he would go again, and ' not come back no mo'. ' 

" The first accurate information in regard to the river 
defences and obstructions came from Matt. Harris. 
The number of guns, rams, gunboats, the armament, 
draught of water, fighting capacity of the latter two, the 
water in the various channels, the name, stowage, capac- 
ity, and rate of sailing of different blockade runners, 
the names of different vessels which have been in Mo- 
bile in years past, — on all these subjects he has an- 
swered hundreds of questions, put in many cases by 
persons who were acquainted with the facts, and anx- 
ious to prove him unreliable, in a manner so straiglit- 
forward, unhesitating, and reasonable, that I have never 
heard any man pretend to doubt his perfect accuracy. 



58 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, 

Above all, he has the rare grace of not pretending to 
know what he does not ; and it has often amused me to 
see with what delightful firmness he refuses to infer 
anything that he does not know. Toward the last of 
April we went to Pensacola for coal, passing, on our 
way up, a burning blockade-runner, near the entrance 
of Perdido Eiver, about ten miles west of Pensacola 
Light. 

" The first day after our arrival, all hands had liberty 
to take a run ashore ; and at night all were present or 
accounted for except Matt. The last that was seen of 
him was about noon, when he was sitting on a log talk- 
ing with one of his color, who lives at Warrenton. I 
kept hoping, up to the last moment, that he would re- 
turn and justify the good opinion that was formed of 
him ; but at the end of three days we went back to the 
fleet, and Matt, was reported as a deserter. Now cop- 
perheadism was jubilant. Never a man among them 
but was sure of his being a spy, who had come out with 
such a story as the rebels instructed him to tell, and 
now had gone back with accurate news from the fleet 
and the navy yard. 

" ' I suspected that fellow from the first,' said the 
chaplain of the Colorado. 'I noticed that he would 
drop his eyes when I looked at him ; ' which we must 
admit was quite conclusive. 

" Thus things remained until the eighth of May, when 
soon after daylight, the officer of the watch saw an open 
boat coming out from Sand Island, about one-third of 
the way over to Fort Morgan. Soon, with a glass, he 
saw a little child sitting in the after-part, and quickly 



THE STORY OF MATT. HARRIS. 59 

after, a man and a woman pulling the boat along with 
not over-skilful strokes. They headed directly for this 
vessel, and just after sunrise came upon our deck, — 
Matt. Harris, wife, and female child fifteen months old. 
The boat was very rickety, nearly half-full of water, 
and badly fitted in regard to oars ; but they managed 
to get off their clothing in two trunks, and considerable 
bed-clothing. The captain gave them a little room 
upon the upper deck, and before nine o'clock the little 
one was munching a piece of sweet-cake at her moth- 
er's knee, while Matt, had gone to his work again. 

" He intended to try this thing ever after he got aboard 
this vessel. To only one man did he reveal his plan, 
and he kept the secret. ' Matt, watched by the sentry at 
the west gate of the navy yard, until he saw him nod- 
ding at his post, and then slipped out by him. He 
bought six ^pounds of ship-bread in Warrenton, and at 
night took the road for Mobile. He walked in the road 
until morning, and then took to the woods which skirt 
the Perdido River, intending to cross at Unis's Ferry, 
about fifteen miles from the mouth of the river. But 
he got lost in the woods, and by mistake turned toward 
Pensacola again, crossed his track, and at night came 
to the river close to the seashore. Turning back again, 
he went along his yesterday's route, and missing the 
path to Unis's Ferry, passed five miles beyond, and at 
last came to the river at Holcomb's Ferry. It was for- 
tunate that he did so ; for if he had tried to cross at 
Unis's, he would have been arrested by a guard detailed 
by the rebels for arresting runaways at that point. At 
Holcomb's he found a skiff, in which he paddled ovr-r, 



60 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

and immediately on landing found himself surrounded 
by a patrol guard, who were very anxious to know his 
business. He told them that he was a free man, that 
he had been engaged in running the blockade, that he 
had got through twice, that the last time his vessel had 
got driven ashore at Perdido and burnt, that he had 
lost his papers, been imprisoned in the navy yard, had 
escaped, and was now on his way back to Mobile. 
(Here were just as many lies as there are commas in 
the sentence. Matt., and I hope the recording angel will 
not put them down against you.) 

" The soldiers let him go, and he went directly up to 
the house of the keeper of the ferry. To him he told 
the same story, but not with quite the same success, for 
the man insisted that he should stay there that night, 
and in the morning go to the colonel commanding in the 
district and get a pass, if all right, as he tgld him not 
even a white man could travel without a pass. Matt, 
was obliged to consent, though discovery stared him in 
the face, and he lay down to rest with a heavy heart. 
There t\!^s only one expedient. He lay down quietly 
until he knew his friend was asleep, and then rising, 
noiselessly crept to the shore, and taking the horse of 
the man, rode rapidly toward Mobile. {Thefl^ Matt I) 
He rode until morning, and then turning his horse 
loose, took to the woods again. In the course of the 
day he saw, in a muddy place, dog-tracks, a common 
thing enough, but to him it meant blood-hounds, pur- 
suit, capture, perhaps death. Most of that day was 
spent without walking ; much of the time standing in 
running water. At night he managed to find out in 



THE STORY OF MATT. HARRIS. 61 

what direction the dogs would run the next day, and 
then took the trail again. 

" Thus he was five days going the forty miles between 
Pensacola and Mobile, arriving on Friday night. He 
immediately communicated with his wife (the only per- 
son who saw him, except the boy who told him about 
the dogs), and made arrangements to start on the next 
Tuesday night. The days of the intervening time were 
spent in the marshes opposite the city, and the nights 
with his wife in the city. Tuesday night, at half-past 
ten, they dropped down the current, and from that 
time they slowly worked their way down the river at 
night, lying concealed in the day-time. They lived, 
during the time, upon bread that they had bought be- 
fore starting, and upon cold boiled chicken Avhich she 
had laid in. Three times, as the day came on, and 
they sought a place of refuge, he took her on his back 
and bore her through the water to the land. And after 
all, this poor woman, well advanced in pregnancy, took 
an oar and helped her husband in his last struggle for 
liberty. 

" Matt, is now about this ship. Hardly a day passes 
in which our captain does not call him from his work to 
get some advice in relation to the harbor ; and I often 
think his conduct, Kentuckian born as he is, puts some 
of us Free-State men to the blush. The wife and baby 
are at Pensacola, comfortably settled, and this little 
family seem at last to have begun to live. Matt.'s 
term of service expires with the commission of the 
ship (he has been offered and has refused his discharge 



62 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

from the commodore since his return), and if he remains 
by her until she comes North, I will try and bring him 
to Worcester, that you may judge whether he is a trust- 
worthy man." 



CHAPTER Y. 



' What, hoi our countrymen in chains I 

The whip on woman's shrinking fleshi 
Our soil yet reddening with stains, 

Caught from lier scourging, warm and fresh I 
Whatl mothers from their children riven! 

What I God's own image bought and soldi 
Ameeicans to market driven, 

And bartered as the brute for gold! 

Shall every flap of England's flag 

Proclaim that all around are free, 
From " farthest Ind." to each blue crag 

That beetles o'er the "Western sea ? 
And shall we scoff at Europe's kings, 

When freedom's fire is dim with us, 
And round our country's altar clings 

The damning shade of Slavery's Chains ? " 



LUNSIORD AS A CHRISTIAN — HIS RELIGIOUS TEACHERS — SLA- 
VERY SEEKING THE AID OF REVELATION— AN HONEST RELIG- 
IOUS TEACHER REBUKING THE SLAVEHOLDER— DOES NOT 
BEAR THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. 

THUS far but little has been said of Lunsford's relig- 
ious character. It will be seen that he was a man of a 
deeply religious nature; his piety was ardent and sincere, 
but he had to encounter many things which in a person 
of weaker mind and less natural reverence for holy 
things, would have made him reckless and defiant of all 
efforts at his improvement. In religious matters he 
<ihose to be free, and nobly did he vindicate in his life 
the religion of his Saviour, in his efforts to impress the 
precepts of the Bible upon his brethren in bonds. He 
had never in his youth been permitted to learn to read, 
but the habit of close attention to all he heard and a 

63 



64 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

wonderfully retentive memory enabled him to lay up a 
valuable store of learning. He had a ready and easy 
way of conveying his thoughts to others, and soon 
became a recognized leader in the religious meetings of 
the slaves and the free colored people of Raleigh. 
Speaking of these early opportunities of religious 
improvement, he says, "I was permitted to attend 
church, and this I esteemed a great blessing ; it was 
there I received much instruction, which I trust was of 
great benefit to me. I trusted, too, that I had experi- 
enced the renewing influences of divine grace ; I looked 
upon myself as a great sinner before God, and upon the 
doctrine of the great atonement through the suffering 
and death of the Saviour as the source of continual 
joy to my heart. After obtaining from my mistress a 
written permit^ a thing always required in such cases, 
I had been baptized, and received into fellowship with 
the Baptist denomination. Thus in religious matters, I 
had been indulged in the exercise of my own conscience ; 
this was a favor not always granted to slaves. There 
was one hard doctrine, to which we, as slaves, were fre- 
quently compelled to listen, which I found difficult to 
receive. We were often told by the minister how much 
we owed to God in bringing us over from the benighted 
shores of Africa, and permitting us to listen to the 
sound of the gospel. In ignorance of any special 
revelation that God had made to master, or to his ances- 
tors, that my ancestors should be stolen and enslaved 
on the soil of America, to accomplish their salvation, I 
was slow to believe all that my teacher enjoined on this 
subject. How surprising, then, this high moral end 



HIS RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. G5 

being accomplished, that no proclamation of emancipa- 
tion had before this been made ! Many of us were as 
highly civilized as some of our masters, and as to piety, 
in many instances their superiors. 

" I was rather disposed to believe that God had origi- 
nally granted me temporal freedom, which wicked men 
had forcibly taken from me, — which now I had been 
compelled to purchase at great cost. 

" I often heard select portions of the Scriptures read 
in our social meetings and comments made upon them. 
On Sunday we always had one sermon prepared expressly 
for the colored people, which it was generally my privi- 
lege to hear. So great was the similarity of the texts 
that they were always fresh in my memory : ' Servants, 
be obedient to your masters' — 'not with eye-service, 
as men-pleasers.' ' He that knoweth his master's will 
and doetli it not, shall be beaten with many stripes ;' 
and some others of this class. Similar passages, with 
but few exceptions, formed the basis of most of these 
public instructions. The first commandment was to 
obey our masters, and the second like unto it : labor 
as faithfully when they or the overseers were not watch- 
ing, as when they were. I will not do them the injustice 
to say that connected with these instructions there was 
not mingled much that was excellent. 

"There was one very kind-hearted clergyman whom I 
used often to hear ; he was very popular with the colored 
people. But after he had preached a sermon to us in 
which he argued from the Bible that it was the will of 
Heaven from all eternity that we should be slaves, and 
our masters be our owners, many of us left him, consid- 

6* 



66 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ering, like the doubting disciple of old, ' This is a hard 
saying, who can hear it ? ' " 

This whole argument of the divine right to enslave 
the African race has been so often refuted, and is so 
much opposed to the instincts of our nature, and to the 
fundamental rights of every human being, that we do 
not feel it necessary to consume much of the reader's 
time in its discussion. It may be well, perhaps, to refer 
to some very judicious remarks made upon this subject 
by an honored son of North Carolina, who was at one 
time professor in the University of the State, at Chapel 
Hill. Holding sentiments on the subject of slavery 
which could not be tolerated, he secured his personal 
safety by removing from the State. His work on the 
Impending Crisis, by its very large circulation, has done 
much toward arousing the people to consider the stupen- 
dous wrong and infamy of slavery. " Every person," 
he observes, " who has read the Bible, and who has a 
proper understanding of its leading moral precepts, 
feels in his own conscience, that it is tlie only original 
and complete anti-slavery text-book. In a crude state 
of society, — in a barbarous age, when men were in a 
nianner destitute of wholesome laws, either human or 
divine, — it is possible that a mild form of slavery may 
have been tolerated, and even regarded as an institution 
clothed with the importance of temporary recognition. 
But the Deity never approved it, and, for the very 
reason that it is impossible for him to do wrong, he 
never will, he never can approve it." 

The worst system of servitude of which we have any 
account in the Bible — g^nd, by the way, it furnishes no 



SLAVERY AND REVELATIOxM. 67 

account of anything so bad as slavery — was far less 
rigorous and atrocious than that now established in the 
Southern States of this confederacy. Even that system, 
however, the worst which seems to have been practised 
to a considerable extent, by those ancient patriarchs, 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was one of the monstrous 
inventions of Satan, that God winked at, and to the 
mind of the biblical scholar nothing can be more evi- 
dent than that he determined of old that it should in 
due time be abolished. 

To say that the Bible sanctions slavery is to say that 
the sun loves darkness ; to say that one man was created ■ 
to domineer over another is to call in question the jus- 
tice, mercy, and goodness of God. 

We will now listen to a limited number of the pre- 
cepts and sayings of the Old Testament : — 

" Proclaim liberty throu'ghout all the land, unto all 
the inhabitants thereof! " 

" Let the oppressed go free ! " 

" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

" Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor 
honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness 
shalt thou judge thy neighbor." 

" The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with 
thee all night until the morning." 

" Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of 
his ways." 

"Execute judgment and justice, take away your ex- 
action from my people, saith the Lord God." 

" Do justice to the afflicted and needy, rid them out 
of the hand of the wicked." 



68 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Ye have not 
hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to 
his brother, every man to his neighbor. Behold, I pro- 
claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to 
the pestilence, to the famine, and I will make you to be 
renowned in all the kingdoms of the earth." 

" He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be 
found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." 

" Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he 
also shall cry, and shall not be heard." 

"He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his 
Maker." 

" I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and 
against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and 
against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the 
widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the 
stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord 
of Hosts." 

We select a few precepts and sayings from the New 
Testament : — 

" Call no man master, neither be ye called master." 

"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
unto you, do ye even so to them." 

" Be kindly affectionate one to another with broth- 
erly love ; in honor preferring one another." 

"Do good to all men as ye have opportunity." 

" If thou mayest be made free, use it rather." 

" The laborer is worthy of his hire." 

But to return to our narrative. Besides these relig- 
ious privileges enjoyed by Lunsford, he had some dear 
friends among the better informed and religious people 



AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. G9 

of Raleigh, who were looking with interest at his strug- 
gles to release himself from bondage. Some even went 
so far as to offer him words of cheer, hoping that the 
time would come when his wife and children might 
enjoy the same blessings. The Rev. Dr. Heath, of the 
Presbyterian Church, he found a true friend to the col- 
ored race. Himself originally from Virginia, where he 
once owned a large number of slaves, as a humane 
man he sought to free them ; but as this could not be 
effected, owing to legal difficulties, he colonized them in 
Africa, furnishing them with a liberal outht. This 
divine, who afterwards is known through the Northern 
States as one of the most eloquent of all the advocates 
of the temperance reform, we shall notice particularly. 
At the time of which we arO speaking, he was just be- 
ginning to rise into public favor by his pulpit elo- 
quence. He had several years before abandoned his 
calling as planter for the sacred office of the ministry. 
He was called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian 
Church in Raleigh, chiefly on the ground of his faith- 
fulness and eloquence as a divine. He had a well-edu- 
cated congregation, but most of them were slave-hold- 
ers. His having freed his own slaves was a suspicious 
circumstance to those who were disposed to find fault 
with his close sermons to masters, for he was a bold 
man, and did not hesitate to reprimand any injustice 
practised by the master toward his -slaves. He was 
free to express his views to some of his parishioners that 
slavery was demoralizing in its influence, and the re- 
sponsibility of its continuance was fearfully great. His 
personal efforts at elevating the race he evinced by re- 



70 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

taining two men-servants in his household as waiter and 
driver. Lunsford had often seen these men sitting in 
the study of Dr. Heath, perusing his books, and thus 
cultivating their minds and securing useful knowledge. 
These men had been emancipated, and were so strongly 
attached to their former master that they had no dispo- 
sition to leave him. 

Among the visitors to his house was Col. Polk, a 
large owner of slaves. He had but lately despatched a 
large colony to Tennessee, whe^e he had purchased a 
plantation for his son. Feeling in some doubt as to the 
doctor's soundness upon the institution, he took an 
early opportunity to open a conversation which would 
be satisfactory to his own mind, and perhaps quiet the 
minds of other members of the congregation who were 
troubled like himself. So deep was the hold which their 
pastor had upon his flock that they would tolerate a 
degree of freedom of expression on this subject that 
would in all probability subject a stranger from the 
North to immediate tar and feathers, and perhaps hang- 
ing. • 

The colonel, on calling, opened the conversation cau- 
tiously. 

" I perceive, doctor, that you have been perusing the 
late work of De Tocqueville on Democracy in America." 
The volume was lying open upon his centre-table, appar- 
ently about half read. " I am glad that an American 
publisher has been found to give to the world an edi- 
tion so creditably executed. I doubt if the English 
edition is much better." 

"Yes, sir; the art of printing is making rapid ad- 



AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. 71 

varices in America, and I hope soon that we shall be 
entirely emancipated from all our notions of English 
superiority, especially in the art of printing." 

" But, doctor, although I have heard much of this 
great work of De Tocqueville, I have never had the 
time to peruse a page ; my information is wholly derived 
from certain criticisms which I have seen in the papers. 
I understand he does not speak very favorably of our 
Southern institutions. He makes some strictures that 
are quite distasteful, I find. If you have the time, I 
should be glad to have you give me some account of 
what you have read so far." 

The doctor, thinking this a fine opportunity of im- 
parting correct views upon the fundamental principles 
of a true democracy, which, in his own view contained 
no such discordant principle as chattel slavery, was 
quite willing to comply with his request. 

" De Tocqueville, in his first chapter, begins by sketch- 
ing the history of American civilization. He declares 
that it exhibits none of that mythological obscurity 
which pertains to the history and origin of almost all 
former people. It was commenced in the full blaze of 
the revived learning of all Europe. The philosophical 
historians of England, France, and Germany may sit 
down to the study of our annals with a certainty of un- 
derstanding all the facts pertaining to our most intimate 
social life. If nothing satisfactory can be ascertained 
as to the fundamental causes and principles of the an- 
cient democracies, no such obscurity is to be found here. 
All tlie phenomena attending our origin and settlement 
are matters of very minute record by the founders them- 



72 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

selves. This is owing, in some measure, to their having 
started in their career after the revival of learning, and 
after the art of printing was discovered. 

" He begins his examination of onr social and politi- 
cal state with the very just remark, which I will read, 
^ Providence has given us a torch which our forefathers 
did not possess, and has allowed us to discern funda- 
mental causes in the history of the world which the ob- 
scurity of the past obscures from us.' The value of 
these studies he considers of great importance in review- 
ing the past. Many things heretofore obscure are now 
luminous with meaning. Whether other writers will 
find them of as great importance as he estimates them, 
remains to be seen. He declares, ' If we can fully ex- 
amine the social and political history of America after 
having studied its history, we shall remain perfectly con- 
vinced that not an opinion, not a custom, not a law, I 
may say not an event is upon record which the origin 
of that people will not explain.' He next proceeds to 
speak of some of the elements pertaining to the settle- 
ment of tli£ different colonies. Some of these circum- 
stances are alike ; ])ut in many very important particu- 
lars dissimilar and inharmonious. ' The colonies are 
mostly of the English race* and speak that language. 
In the North they establish a true democracy ; in the 
South, unfortunately for succeeding generations, they 
have not yet lost all love of an aristocracy, — landed 
proprietors wiMi their retinues of slaves. The Pilgrims 
came to promote education, religion, and establish free- 
dom. Social equality was the initial principle of the 
rising State ; labor was the lot of all, and honorable in 



AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. 73 

all. How different were the facts pertaining to South- 
ern settlements. The men sent to Virginia were seek- 
ers of gold, adventurers without resources and without 
character, whose turbulent and restless spirits endan- 
gered the infant colony, and rendered its progress un- 
certain. The artisans and agriculturists arrived after- 
wards; and although they were a more moral and 
orderly race of men, they were nowise above the level 
of the inferior classes in England. No lofty conceptions, 
no intellectual system directed the foundation of these 
new settlements. The colony was scarcely established 
when slavery was introduced, and this was the main 
circumstance which has exercised so prodigious an 
influence on the character, the laws, and all the future 
prospects of the South.' " 

The colonel, who had listened with close attention to 
the last few sentences, while admitting mentally the 
truthfulness of the description, interposed a word of 
comment. 

" If this be true, and our civilization is to become 
homogeneous, I can see no escape from a terrible and 
protracted contest in the future, unless, indeed, the 
South becomes a distinct confederacy, which might be 
effected by peaceable means." 

''The severe justice of the Puritan character, to say 
nothing of the great interests of humanity, both in Eu- 
rope and America, which would be involved, would not 
admit of so peaceable a separation as you and I might 
desire," replied the doctor. " De Tocqueville in main- 
taining these statements quotes largely from contempo- 
raneous history, and also from sul>sequent records. He 



74 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

refers to the work of Wm. Stith, who was, I believe 
the first president of William and Mary College, at 
Williamsburg, Va.* He was the author of a history 
of the first discovery and settlement of Virginia. He 
died in 1750. He says that a large portion of the ad- 
venturers were unprincipled young men of family whom 
their parents were glad to ship oif, discharged servants, 
fraudulent bankrupts, and debauchees, and others of 
the same class, — people more apt to pillage and de- 
stroy than to assist the settlement, and were the sedi- 
tious chiefs who easily led this band in every kind of 
extravagance and excess." These statements are con- 
firmed by the testimony of Smith and Beverly. The 
chief element of their decaying civilization was unfor- 
tunately introduced in 1620 by a Dutch vessel, which 
landed twenty negroes on the banks of the James. 

The reader can see, in the light of the present rebel- 
lion, which is in progress while we write, the truthful- 
ness of De Tocqueville in his reasonings on this sub- 
ject, to which this proud Southerner was compelled to 
listen, who was no less a personage than the father of 
that distinguished champion of Southern rights, Major- 
Gen. Leonidas Polk, of the release of whose slaves in 
Tennessee we have lately had mtelligence. 

" ' Slavery,' " continued the doctor, quoting De Toc- 
queville, " ' as we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; 
it introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, 
ignorance and pride, luxury and distress ; it enervates 

* This institution has been disbanded, and the town almost destroyed by the 
tramp of armed hosts in the present war for the perpetuity of the Union. Its 
inhabitant? are scattered, and its strong men slain in battle. 

% 



AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. 75 

tbo powers of the mind, and benumbs the activities 
of man. The influence of slavery, united to English 
character, explains the manners and social condition of 
the Southern States.' It was not until some time after 
their first settlement in Virginia that a few rich English 
capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.* 

"In entire contrast to these circumstances, he notices, 
particularly, the history of the founding of the New 
England colonies. In his first chapter, he had noticed 
at some length the differences of soil and climate, both 
greatly favoring the South. The foundation of New 
England was a novel spectacle, and all the circumstan- 
ces attending it were singular and original. The large 
majority of the other colonies, in the Old and New 
World, have been first inhabited, either by men without 
education and without resources, driven by their pov- 
erty and their misconduct from the land which gave 
them birth, or by speculators and adventurers, greedy 
of gain. Some settlements cannot even boast so hon- 
orable an origin. St. Domingo was founded by buc- 
caneers, and, at the present day, the criminal courts 
of England supply the population of Australia.! The 
settlers who established themselves on the shores of 
New England all belonged to the more independent 
classes of their native country. Their union on the 
soil of America at once presented one singular phenom- 
enon of a society containing neither lords nor common 



* See De Tocqueville, chap. ii. (notes). 

t The tide of this class of people which Is being turned upon our shores will 
most surely work out the most unhappy consequences. Some of tljp bitter fruita 
we are now reaping. 



<b MEMOIR OF LUN8F0RD LANE. 

people, neither rich nor poor. These men possessed in 
proportion to their number a greater mass of intelli- 
gence than is to be found in any European nation of 
our own time. All, without a single exception, had 
received a good education ; many of them were known 
in Europe for their talents and their acquirements. 
The other colonies have been founded by adventurers, 
without family ; the emigrants of New England brought 
with them the best elements of good order and moral- 
ity. They landed in the desert, accompanied by their 
wives and children. But what most especially distin- 
guished them was the aim of their undertaking. They 
had not been obliged by necessity to leave their coun- 
try ; the social position they abandoned was one to be 
regretted, and their means of subsistence were certain. 
Nor did they cross the Atlantic to improve their situa- 
tion or to increase their wealth. The call which sum- 
moned them from the comforts of their homes was 
purely intellectual, and in facing the inevitable suffer- 
ings of exile, their object was the triumph of a great 
idea. 

"When," continued the doctor, "the author comes 
to the annals left us by these heavenly-minded men, the 
account of their own intentions, the humanity which 
marked every moment, he is awe-struck at the wonder- 
ful providences which attended them and preserved 
them alive amid all their disasters. They came, led by 
an unseen hand, to secure a home in the wilderness of 
America, where they might freely worship G-od, and 
begin a new civilization, founded in the virtue, intelli- 
gV3nce, and equality of its people. 



AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. 77 

" Tliey started in their frail vessels for the shores of 
the Hudson, but the winds and the storm wafted them 
to Plymouth rock. " He sees, even in the sacredness 
with which their descendants regard this rock, an evi- 
dence of the grandeur of tjieir ideas. ' I have seen,' 
he remarks, ' bits of it carefully preserved, in several 
towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show 
that all human power and greatness is in the soul of 
man ? Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts 
pressed for an instant, and this stone becomes famous ; 
it is treasured by a great nation ; its very dust is shared 
as a relic. And ivhat is become of the gateways of a 
thousand palaces ? ' In his further study of these sin- 
gular people, he does not find them given to wild spec- 
ulations as to the mode of living, but their first act is to 
combine themselves into a community, and subject 
themselves to a written constitution, — a covenant for 
their mutual security and good order. They even ac- 
knowledge themselves in the first written expression of 
their opinions, as the ' legal subjects of their dead sov- 
ereign, Lord King James.' The population of New 
England increased rapidly, and while the hierarchy of 
rank despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother 
country, the colony continued to present the novel spec- 
tacle of a community homogeneous in all its parts. A 
democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had 
dreamed of, started in full blaze and panoply from the 
midst of an ancient feudal society. I doubt not," 
said Dr. H., in concluding his remarks on De Tocque- 
ville, " that the English government was glad to be 
relieved of the discordant elements of her society, and 



78 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

was pleased to allow the infant colonies the enjoyment 
and development of their own wild dreams of a new 
state. The policy of G-reat Britain was to allow their 
ideas the freest and fullest scope, assured that if any 
good came of them, her superior power and ownership 
of the territory would in the end only add to her great- 
ness." During all this time the doctor had carefully 
abstained from making any comments upon the views 
of De Tocqueville, and was willing to allow the truths 
which his friend had received to produce their own 
fruit. He could not be certain that the seed was sown 
into good ground. His personal interest in the institu- 
tion was very great, and mere argument, however pow- 
erful, would effect but little. As the colonel went into 
the hall, and was about to leave, they met Lunsford, 
who had called upon an errand. " Ah, Lunsford, I am 
glad to see you. I suppose we are to have another 
happy free negro in our midst, to make our happy 
slaves all unhappy. I hope you will have the good sense 
to use your liberty as not abusing it. Have you heard 
anything of my man Solomon ? " " Yes, master; he re- 
turned from Tarboro' last night, and says he has found a 
master for his wife, and he is ready to take her away 
as soon as you will allow him." The colonel, turning 
to the doctor, said, "Here, I suppose, is what those 
Northern abolitionists will call one of the beauties of 
our institution. You know I have lately purchased a 
plantation in Tennessee for my son Leonidas, and I have 
found some difficulty in getting some of my best ser- 
vants to consent to a separation from their families, 
especially the men. It seems that Solomon and his 



THE SLAVE SOLOMON. 79 

wife came from the neighborhood of Tarboro', where 
they have a number of children, owned upon plan- 
tations near each other. The distance from here is 
not so great that they cannot occasionally visit tli*3m 
and look after their comfort, though I have no doubt 
they are well enough off. I found Solomon willing 
to leave his wife, provided he could find her a master 
near her children. I permitted him to go in pur- 
suit of the object, naming a moderate price for his 
wife. Lunsford, here, tells me he has succeeded, 
and returned last evening." " Well, colonel, in addi- 
tion to all this, do you really contemplate sending 
Solomon to join your negro colony in Tennessee. Of 
course he will never see his wife again." " I do not see 
how I can do otherwise ; he is one of the most valuable 
hands in the. gang." " I must confess," rejoined the 
doctor, as the colonel left the door-step, " I would not 
undertake your fearful responsibility for the wealth of 
all the slaves in the South." 

The sequel to Solomon's history is as follows: — After 
seeing his wife comfortably sold upon a plantation near 
his children, he starts for Tennessee with several other 
hands, under the care of an overseer. The deep grief 
that preyed upon his heart gave him rest neither day 
nor night. The slave had a deep and abiding attach- 
ment to his wife and children. Upon the third night 
out, he left the overseer at a moment when he was off his 
guard, and made his way to Tarboro'. He concealed 
himself in the swamps for over a year, visiting his wife 
and children at night. Finally his master (the colo- 



80 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

iiel) sent word to his family that if Solomon would 
find a new master in Edgecomb County, or in Tarboro', 
he would consent to dispose of him. The sale was soon 
arranged, and he was thus restored to his family, and 
ever remained a most orderly and faithful slave. 



CHAPTER YI 



*• Shall tongues be mute when deeds are wrought 
Which well might shame extrercest hell? 

Shall freemen lock the indignant thought?, 
Shall Pity's bosom cease to swell? 

Shall Honor bleed ? Shall Truth succumb ? 
Shall pen and press and soul be dumb? 



No I guided by our country's laws, 
For truth and right and suffering man, 

Be ours to strive in Freedom's cause 
As Christians viay,, as freemen can. 

Still pouring on unwilling cars 
That truth oppression only fears." 



HIS COIO'INUED PROSPERITY — NEGOTIATES FOR THE PURCHASE 
OF WIFE AND CHILDREN — DARK DAYS — THE SLAVEHOLDER 
ON HIS TRACK — THE CRUEL STATUTE — PETITIONS THE LEG- 
ISLATURE — FAILS IN OBTAINING MERCY — DARKER DAYS. 

LUNSFORD now began to rise steadily in the esti- 
mation of all the better classes in the community. 
His consistent religious life, his honesty and attention to 
business, and his great industry in procuring his free- 
dom, all combined to create a real respect for the man. 
A few among the poorer white people were jealous of 
the attentions paid him, and took frequent occasion to 
taunt him with being only a " nigg-er, after alU^ His 
manumission having now been secured, and legally 
recorded in a free State, he felt a degree of personal 
security. '^ The bill of sale simply conveyed me to 
Mr. Smith, though the purchase was made through 
the labor of my own hands. I knew there were many 
who would gladly see me a slave again, but I had 

81 



82 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

friends of influence, who would not see me wronged if 
they could prevent it." He soon enlarged his business. 
To his tobacco and pipes he added a small trade in a 
variety of articles. " My customers were not only 
among the slaves and the free people of color, but 
many of my friends among the white population sent 
to my shop for articles needed. As my little means 
increased, I entered into a considerable business in fire- 
wood, which I purchased by the acre standing, cut it, 
hauled it into the city and deposited it in a yard, and 
sold it out as I advantageously could. To facilitate this 
increasing business, I kept one or two horses and vari- 
ous vehicles, by which I was enabled to do a variety of 
work at trucking about town. I had even to hire more 
or less help in these busy operations. In the manufac- 
ture of tobacco I met with considerable competition, 
but none that materially injured me. The method of 
preparing it having originated with me and my father, 
we found it necessary, in order to secure the advantage 
of the invention, to keep it to ourselves, and decline, 
though often solicited, going into partnership with oth- 
ers. Those who undertook the manufacture could 
neither give the article a flavor as pleasant as ours, nor 
manufacture it so cheaply ; so they either failed in it, or 
succeeded but poorly. With these increasing evidences 
of prosperity, I felt truly grateful to a kind Providence 
that had made my condition to diifer so greatly from 
that of thousands of my fellow-beings in bonds, many 
of them compelled to languish out a miserable exist- 
ence upon t\\^ plantations, especially those upon the 
unhealthy lowlands of the Neuse and other streams. 



CONTINUED PROSPERITY. 83 

The visitors at my shop in the evenmg, after their day's 
toil was completed, had sad stories of wrongs endured 
by themselves or friends. Aware of our ntter power- 
lessness in removing these evils, we were cautious in 
our words, and in our deportment toward our superi- 
ors. Any attempt at resistance would bring certain 
and iftamediate destruction. Besides, we had seen the 
attempt fail, and we were not anxious to put our necks 
in .the halter. For myself, now, if ever, I needed wis- 
dom to guide my steps aright, and to avoid the least 
suspicion of discontent, or of a desire to create uneasi- 
ness in others. Among the callers at my shop was a 
free negro by the name of George Lowrey, the former 
slave of Wiles Jones, of Halifax, N. C. More than 
twenty-five years previously he had been sold South, 
and, after over twenty years' service, succeeds, by his 
industry and good conduct, in purchasing his freedom, 
and returns to Raleigh, where he spends the remainder 
of his days among his friends and relatives. His case 
was a rare one, and of course excited considerable in- 
terest among slaves liable to a similar fate. His story 
of the wrongs which he had witnessed upon Southern 
plantations made a deep impression upon my mnid, and 
produced a salutary dread of a calamity so great. He 
described the cruelty practised toward women as great 
in the extreme. Having no desire for the natural in- 
crease, as in the slave-breeding States, the women are 
forced into the fields under circumstances when their 
offspring are almost certain to perish from neglect. The 
term of life among field hands is not expected to be 
long, and the most rapid use of bone and muscle in tlie 
busy f^eason is far the most economical ! 



84 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

But George Lowrey had been endowed by Providence 
with strong hands, a good disposition, and withal, a 
rehgious nature, which commended him to the kind 
consideration of his master ; and after years of most 
faithful service, he purchases his freedom, and spends 
the remainder of his days as a preacher of righteous- 
ness to his race in Raleigh. To show the shrewd spirit 
which sometimes animates the slave in securing the 
good-will of his master, — for this is his only hope of 
securing favors, — without intending to approve of the 
motive in the incident, we relate the following: — 
One*evening, Derby, a slave belonging to Mr. Hay- 
wood, the State Treasurer, called, and while talking 
about the funeral solemnities of the late Secretary 
White, who had held that office for many years, and 
was greatly respected throughout the State, he re- 
marked that the family seemed greatly pleased at his 
having voluntarily placed crape upon his hat, as was 
the custom at the South ; they thought it evinced great 
consideration for the family and friends, and for which 
he deserved great praise. Derby remarked that he was 
afraid his motive had been misinterpreted, for he would 
be glad to have kept it upon his hat until they were all 
as decently placed beneath the sod as Secretary White, 
if that would aid him in securing his freedom. 

Lunsford, feeling now, a degree Of security, began to 
think of a permanent settlement in Raleigh, and the 
securing of a home for his wife and children. For this 
purpose he purchases a house and lot on Argate Street. 
for which he paid |500. It was not long after obtain- 
ing his own freedom before lie began seriously to think 



EFFORTS TO PURCHASE HIS FAMILY. 85 

about purchasing the freedom of his family. His first 
plan was to^ purchase his wife, and that they should 
jointly labor to obtain the freedom of the children, as 
they were able, after the first object had been accom- 
plished. With this idea he approached Mr. Smith, but 
became almost discouraged when he found that his 
wife's master refused to sell her to him for less than 
one thousand dollars, which then appeared too large 
a sum to raise. This depression, however, was not of 
long continuance ; he determined at all events not to 
be bafHed in his efforts to secure the freedom of the 
entire family. Summoning resolution, he went to Mr. 
Smith to learn his price, which he placed at the very 
modest sum of three thousand dollars, for his wife and 
six children, — the number to which his family had 
grown. " This seemed in my eyes a large amount, for 
several reasons ; first, because it was a great sum for 
me to raise ; it involved the sacrifice of every penny's 
worth of property I had in the world, in addition to 
other years of toil. Second, I knew the price Mi. 
Smith had paid for my wife and two children, which 
was owlj five hundred and sixty dollars. He had, since 
the purchase, received their labor, while I had almost 
entirely supported them, both as to food and clothing. 
By every rule of justice I was certainly entitled to the 
pecuniary benefit I had thus conferred upon him, as 
well as upon my family. The case seemed indeed a 
hard one ; but I felt I was entirely in his power and 
must do the best I could. At length he concluded, in- 
fluenced by the representations and persuasions of my 
friends, to sell the family for tivo thousand five hundred 



86 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

dollars, I represented to him my great desire to see 
them free ; but he contended to the last that they were 
worth the amount he had first named. Possibly he 
may have thought that, at that time, they would have 
brought that sum if sold for the Southern market. 
Having agreed to this arrangement, I gave Mr. Smith 
five notes of five hundred dollars each, the first coming 
due in January, 1840, and one in January of each suc- 
ceeding year. My family were thus transferred into 
my 'own possession, with a written obligation to give me 
a bill of sale when I should pay the notes. We now, 
to our exceeding great joy, found ourselves living in 
our own house, — one which I had purchased, as stated 
above. This was in January, 1839. So excessive was 
the joy and excitement of my wife, in her new and 
happy relation, and in transferring her efiects to the 
new home, that she was quite ill for some time. I said 
to her, that her case reminded me of a poor shoemaker, 
somewhere in that State, who purchased a ticket in the 
lottery (this is another delightful Southern institution), 
but not expecting to draw, the fact of his having pur- 
chased it had passed out of his mind. But one day, as 
he was at work at his last, he was informed that his 
ticket had drawn the liberal prize of ten thousand dol- 
lars ; and the poor man was so overjoyed that he fell 
back on his seat and expired. 

^' Who can tell the joy of a family thus reunited, and 
in freedom, permitted, under their own vine and fig- 
tree, to offer up to a God of loving-kindness the grate- 
ful incense of humble hearts ? We had received good 
at his hands, and we felt unwilling to withhold from 



DARK DAYS, 87 

him the praise. It is true the great work of our liber- 
ation was not yet completed, yet we had health and 
strength, and a disposition to labor ; we had also a few 
friends, and we cared not to inquire about enemies. 
Thus things were happily proceeding, little dreaming 
of the storm that was about to break over our quiet 
home, and perhaps put out, in darkness, the hope of 
years. It will be remembered that my emancipation 
had been legally secured only by going to the State of 
New York, and having the evidence of my right to 
freedom placed on record there. My secret enemies in 
Raleigh reasoned that I must hereafter be looked upon 
as a free negro, from another State. The first intima- 
tion I had of any plot against my happiness was in 
September, 1840. As I was passing along the street 
one day, engaged i*i my business, an officer handed me 
the following note, saying, ' Head it, or if you cannot 
read, get some white man to read it to you.' It was 
as follows. It is given verhatim et literatim : — 

' To Lunsford Lane^ a free man of color. 

'Take notice, that whereas complaint has been made 
to us, two Justices of the Peace, for the County of 
Wake and State of North Carolina, that you are a free 
negro from another State, who has migrated into this 
State, contrary to the provisions of the act of Assembly 
concerning free negros and mulattoes ; now notice is 
given you that unless you leave and remove out of this 
State, within twenty days, that you will be proceeded 
against for the penalty prescribed by said act of Assem- 
bly, and be otherwise dealt with as the law directs. 



88 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Given under our hands and seals this 5th day of Sep- 
tember, 1840. 

Jordan Womble, J. P., (Seal.} 

Willis Scott, J. P. QSeaiy 

" Tliis was a terrible blow to me, for it prostrated at 
once all my hopes, in the cherished object of obtaining 
the freedom of my family, and I looked upon nothing 
but separation from them forever. This blow I knew 
had come from the lowest class in the community, — the 
poor, degraded white man, who looks with jealousy 
upon every effort of the negro to elevate himself. They 
knew, too, I had a few friends among the most wealthy 
and cultivated people in town, and they did not relish 
the attentions paid me. In order that the reader may 
understand the ground for serving the foregoing notice, 
it may be well to refer to the law of the State under 
which it was issued. In the Revised Statutes of North 
Carolina, Chap. Ill, Sec. 65^ it is written : ' It shall not 
be lawful for any free negro or mulatto to 'migrate into 
this State ; and if he or she shall do so, contrary to the 
provisions of this act, and being thereof informed, shall 
not, within twenty days thereafter, remove out of the 
State, he or she, being thereof convicted in the manner 
hereinafter directed, shall be liable to a penalty of five 
hundred dollars ; and upon failure to pay the same, 
within the time prescribed in the judgment awarded 
against such person or persons, he or she shall be liable 
to be held in servitude, and at labor, a term of time 
not exceeding ten years, in such manner and upon such 
terms as may be provided by the court awarding such 



DARK DAYS. 89 

sentence, and the proceeds arising therefrom shall be 
paid over to the county trustee for county purposes. 
Provided, that in case any free negro or mulatto shall 
pay the penalty of five hundred dollars, according to 
the provisions of this aet, it shall be the duty of such 
free negro or mulatto to remove him or herself out of 
this State within twenty days thereafter, and for every 
such failure, he or she shall be subject to the like 
penalty, as prescribed for a failure to remove in the 
first instance.' The next section provides ' that if the 
free person of color, so notified, does not leave within 
the twenty days after receiving the notice, he may be 
arrested on a warrant from any Justice, and be held to 
bail for his appearance at the next county court, where 
he will be subject to the penalties specified above ; or, 
in case of his failure to give bonds, he may be sent to 
jail.' 

" I hastened to make known my situation to my 
friends, and after taking legal advice, it was determined 
to induce, if possible, the complamants to prosecute no 
farther for the present, and then, as the Legislature of the 
State was to sit in about two months, to petition that 
body for permission to remain in the State until I could 
complete the purchase of my family, after which I was 
willing, if necessary, to leave." 

One circumstance, which has not yet been mentioned, 
gave Lunsford Lane considerable influence in town and 
among a few of the better informed. For several years 
previous to the event above stated, he had been employed 
in the office of the governor of tlie State, sometimes 
acting under the direction of the governor, but princi- 

8* 



90 MEMOIR OF'LUNSFORD LANE. 

pally under his private secretary. His duties were not 
laborious, but required intelligence and honesty. He 
was required to keep the office in order, see that 
papers and documents were in their proper place, to 
attend the post-office and the carrying of messages and 
papers to and from the different offices in the State 
House. He also placed the seal of State to documents 
that had been signed by the governor. " This circum- 
stance, with the fact of the high standing in the city of 
my former master's family, and of the former masters 
of my wife, gave me the friendship of the first people 
in the State, many of whom, from the time of my being 
called to this position, acted toward me a friendly part. 
I had served in this relation during the whole term of 
Gov. Dudley, and during six months of Gov. More- 
head's time. At the period now alluded to, and when 
I was in so great distress at the singular course affairs 
had taken, I was acting under the direction of Mr. Bat- 
tle, then private secretary of Gov. Dudley. I immedi- 
ately went to him and stated my grievances, and the 
determination of my enemies that I should be driven 
from the State. He evinced great interest in my case, 
and addressed the following note in my behalf to Geo. 
W. Haywood, Esq., the prosecuting attorney : — 

'Raleigh, Nov. 3, 1840. 
' Dear Sir : Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, has 
been in the employ of the State under me since my en- 
trance on my present situation. I understand that un- 
der a law of the State he has been notified to leave, and 
that the time is now at hand. In the discharge of the 



DARK DAYS. 91 

duties I had from him, I have found him prompt, obe- 
dient, and faithful. At this particular time, his aljscnce 
to me would be much regretted, as I am now just fixing 
up my books and other papers in the new office, and shall 
not have time to learn another what he can already do 
so well. With me, the period of the Legislature is a very 
busy one, and I am compelled to have a servant who 
understands the business I want done, and one I can 
trust. I would not wish to be an obstacle in the execu- 
tion of any law ; but the enforcing of the one against 
him will be doing me a serious inconvenience ; and the 
object of this letter is to ascertain whether I could not 
procure a suspension of the sentence till after the ad- 
journment of the Legislature, — say about the first of 
January, 1841. I should feel no hesitation in giving 
my word that he will conduct himself orderly and obe- 
diently. 

* I am, most respectfully, 

' Your obedient servant, 

'0. C. Battle. 

«Ta G. W. Haywood, Esq., 

Attorney at Law, Raleigh, N. C 

" To the above letter, the following reply was made : 

'Kaleigh, Nov. 2, 1840. 
' My Dear Sir : I have no objection, so far as I am 
concerned, that all further proceedings against Luns- 
ford should be postponed until after the adjournment 
of the Legislature. The process now out against him is 
one issued by two magistrates, Messrs. Willis Scott and 
Jordan Womble, over which I have no control. You 



02 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORT) LANE. 

had better see them to-day, and, perhaps at your re- 
quest, they will delay further action on the subject. 
' Respectfully yours, 

' Geo. W. Haywood.' 

" Mr. Battle then enclosed the foregoing correspon- 
dence to Messrs. Scott and Womble, requesting their 
favorable consideration. They returned the notes ; but 
made no reply. In consequence, no doubt, of this 
action on the part of my friends, I was permitted to re- 
main without further interruption, until the day the Leg- 
islature commenced its session. On that day a warrant 
was served upon me to appear before the county court, 
to answer for the sin of having remained in the place 
of my birth for the space of twenty days and more af- 
ter being warned to leave. I escaped going to jail only 
through the kindness of my former master's son, Mr. 
Haywood, and Mr. Smith, who jointly became security 
for my appearance at court. This occurred on Monday ; 
and on Wednesday I appeared before the court ; but as 
my prosecutors were not ready for trial, the case was laid 
over three months, to the next term. I hoped that the 
decided stand taken by my friends had, for the present, 
at least, driven off these emissaries of the slave-power, 
who were seeking my ruin. 

"Having taken advice, I determined to present a peti- 
tion to the Legislature, as strongly fortified as possible 
by the signatures of respectable men in town. It re- 
quired much persistent labor and persuasion on my 
part to start it ; but, after that, I readily obtained the 
signatures of the principal men of influence. I then 



PETITIONS THE LEGISLATURE. 93 

went round. to the members of the Legislature, many of 
whom were known to me, calling upon them at their 
rooms, and urging them to support my petition, for my 
sake, for humanity's sake, for the sake of my wife and 
the little ones whose hopes were bound up in my fate, 
and who had been excited by the idea that they were 
even now free. I desired to remain only sufficient time 
in the State to secure their freedom. I was now doing 
a good business, and to break up everything now, I 
looked upon as a great disaster, to say nothing of the 
blasted hopes of wife and children. If they would 
allow me to do this, then, if it was desired, we would 
together seek a more friendly home, beyond the do- 
minion of slavery." I subjoin in the note the petition 
as signed and presented to the Legislature.* 

* To THE Honorable General Assembly of the State of K'orth Car- 
olina : 
Gentlemen: The petition of Lunsford Lane humbly shows that about five 
years ago he purchased his freedom from his mistress, Mrs. Sherwood Haywood, 
and by great economy and industry has paid the purchase money; that he has a 
wife and seven ctuldren whom he has agreed to purchase, and for whom he has 
paid a part of the purchase money; but not having paid in full, is not yet able to 
leave the State witliout parting witli Iiis wife and cliildren. Your petitioner prays 
your honorable body to pass a law allowing him to remain a limited time within 
tlie state, until he can remove his family also. Your petitioner will give bond 
and good security for his good behavior while he remains. 

Your petitioner wlU ever pray, etc. 

Lunsford Lane. 

The undersigned are well acquainted with Lunsford Lane, the petitioner, and 
join in his petition to the Assembly for relief. 

Charles Manley, Fabius J. Haywood, William White, 

R. W. Haywood, D. W. Stone, George Simpson, 

Eleanor Haywood, T. Merideth, John J. Christophers, 

William Hill, A. J. Battle, John Primrose, 

R. Smith, Drury Lacy, Hugh McQueen, 

William Peace, Will. Peck, Alex. J. Lawrence, 

James Peace, W. A. Stith, C. L. Hinton, 

Vrilliam McPheeters, A. B. Stith, J. Brown. 

William Boylan, 



94: MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

His petition was in due time presented to the Senate. 
It was referred to a committee. " I knew," be says, 
"when the committee was to report, and I watched 
about the State House, that I might receive the earliest 
news of my fate. I would like to have gone within 
the senate chamber, or at least into the vestibule^ that I 
might know the interest manifested in my behalf. But 
no colored inan is allowed that permission. I know not 
why, unless he may hear the eloquence of American 
freedom uttered by the lips of slave-holders." 

Certainly there seems great inconsistency in our leg- 
islating slave-holders' proclaiming to all the world the 
great boon of American freedom, and pointhig the 
oppressed nations of Europe to the fair Goddess of Lib- 
erty, whilst their fcQt are firmly placed upon the necks 
of four million slaves. We may well account for the 
little influence that American civilization has had upon 
Europe in the past fifty years or more whilst the insti- 
tution of slavery remains. It is destined to have less 



To which was added the following from Mr. Battles : — 

Lunsford Lane, the petitioner herein, has been servant to the Executive Oflfice 
since the first of January 1837, and it gives me pleasure to state that during the 
whole time, without exception, I have found him faithful and obedient in keep- 
ing everything committed to his care in good condition. From what I have seen 
of his conduct and demeanor, I cheerfully join in the petition for his relief. 

" C. C. Battle, 
Private Secretary to Gov. Dudley. 
Ealeigh, Nov. 20, 1840. 

The writer has lived in the South a suflacient length of time to become famil- 
iar with the spirit which animates slave-holders, and their prejudice against the 
'negro. We know that nothing but the respectable character of the petitioner, 
and the like character of his friends would have prevented them from looking 
upon the petition as an insult, and rejecting it with all that disdain that the 
high-born aristocrats and lords of the soil could exhibit. But, bejpg respectable, 
it deserved a better fate. 



FAILS IN OBTAINING MERCY. 95 

and less while it continues.* Lunsford had greatly 
mistaken the temper of Southern men if he, not long 
since a slave, expected much consideration at their 
hands. The presence and influence of an intelligent 



* We commend to those who are indifferent one of the sweet " voices of free- 
dom," by that champion of every good cause, whose earnest pleadings for the 
oppressed challenge our highest esteem. 

STAJsiZAS. 

BY J. G. WHITTIER. 

("The despotism which our fathers coidd not bear in their native country is 
expiring, and the sword of Justice in her reformed hands has applied its exter- 
minating edge to slavery. Shall the United States — the free United States, 
which could not bear the bonds of a king — cradle the bondage which a king is 
abolisliing? Shall a republic be less free than a monarchy ? Shall we, in the 
vigor and buoyancy of our manhood, be less energetic in righteousness than a 
kingdom in its age ? ^' — Dr. FollancVs Address.) 

Our fellow-countrymen in chains ! 

Slaves — in a* land of light and law ! 
Slaves — crouching on the very plains 

Where rolled the storm of Freedom's war ! 
A groan from Eutaw's haunted wood, — 

A wail where Camden's martyrs fell, — 
By every shrine of patriot blood, 

From Moultrie's wall and Jasper's well ! 

By storied hill and hallowed grot, 

By mossy wood and marshy green, 
Whence rang of old the rifle shot, 

And hurrying shout of Marion's men ! 
The groau of breaking hearts is there — 

The faUing- lash — the fetters' clank ! 
Slaves — SLAVES are breathing in that air 

Which old De Kalb and Sumter drank. 

What, ho ! — OUR countrymen in chains ! 

The wliip on woman's shrinking flesh! 
Our soil yet reddening with the stains 

Caught from her scourgings, warm and fresh ! 
What ! mothers from their children riven ! 

What ! God's own image bought and sold ! 
AMERICANS to market driven, 

And bartered as the brute for gold 1 



96 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

free man of color, who had achieved his liberty through 
his own industry and wits, was a dangerous element in 



Speak ! shall this agony of prayer 

Come thrilling to our hearts in vain ? 
To us whose fathers scorned to bear 

The paltry menace of a chain ; 
To us, whose boast is loud and long 

Of holy Liberty and Light ; 
Say, — shaU these writhing slaves of wrong, 

Plead vainly for their plundered right ? 

What ! shall we send, with lavish breath, 

Our sympathies across the wave, 
Where manhood on the field of death 

Strikes for his freedom or a grave ? 
Shall prayers go up, and hymns be sung, 

For Greece, the Moslem fetter spurning, 
And millions hail, with pen and tongue, 

Our light on aU her altars burning? 

Shall Belgium feel, and gallant France, 

By Vendome's pile, and Schoenburn's wall, 
And Poland, gasping on her lance, 

The impulse of our cheering call ? 
And shall the slave beneath our eye 

Clank o'er our fields his hateful chain? 
And toss his fettered arms on high, 

And groan for freedom's gift in vain ? 

Oh, say, shall Prussia's banner be 

A refuge for the stricken slave ? 
And shall the Russian serf go free 

By Baikal's lake, and Neva's wave? 
And shall the wintry-bosom Daile 

Relax the iron hand of pride. 
And bid his bondsmen cast the chain 

From fettered soul and limb aside ? 

Shall every flap of England's flag 

Proclaim that all around are free. 
From " farthest Ind " to each blue crag 

That beetles o'er the Western sea? 
And shall we scoff at Europe kings, 

When Freedom's fire is dim with us, 
And round our country's altar clings 

The damning shade of Slavery's curse? 



DARKER DAYS. 97 

their society. Here was a fitting opportunity to put an 
end to the efforts of these aspiring negroes, and they 

Go I — let us ask of Constantine 

To loose liis grasp on Poland's throat; 
And beg the lord of Mahmoud's line 

To spare his struggling Suliote. 
"Will not the scorching answer come 

From turbaued Turk and scornful Euss : 
" Go, loose your fettered slaves at home, 

Then turn and ask the like of us ! " 

Just God ! and shall we calmly rest,— 

The Christian's scorn, the heathen's mirth,— 
Content to live the lingering jest 

And by-word of a mocking earth? 
Shall our own glorious land retain 

That curse which Europe scorns to bear? 
Shall our own brethren drag the chain 

Which not even Eussia's menials wear ? 

Up, then, in Freedom's manly part, 

From gray-beard eld to fiery youth, 
And on the nation's naked heart 

Scatter the living coals of Truth I 
Up I — while ye slumber, deeper yet 

The shadow" of our fame is growing ; 
Up I — while ye pause, our sun may set 

In blood around our altars flowing ! 

Oh, rouse ye, ere the storm comes forth,— 

The gatliered wrath of God and man,— 
Like that which wasted Egypt's earth, 

When hail and fire above it ran. 
Hear ye no warnings in the air ? 

Feel ye no earthquake underneath ? 
Up, up ! why will ye slumber where 

The sleepers only vrake in death ? 

Up NOW for Freedom ! — not in strife 

Like that your sterner fathers saw, — 
The awful waste of human life, — 

The glory and the guilt of war : 
But break the chain, the yoke remove, 

And smite to earth oppression's rod, 
With those mild arms of Truth and Love, 

Made miyhty through the living God t 



98 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

did not hesitate to strike the blow. As Luiisford waited 
in the outer porch, a member came out, and, with an 
air of utter indifference to his feeUngs, and with a voice 
of merriment, even, he said, — 

"Well, Lunsford, they have laid you out; the 
nigger bill is killed." 

" Need I tell the reader what my feelings were, and 
how I regarded this honorable senator ? To me, the 
fate of my petition was the last blow to my hopes. I 
had done all I could do, and said all I could say, labor- 
ing day and night, to obtain a favoral}le reception of my 
prayer ; but all in vain. I had attributed to them ten- 
derness of heart and mercy to the oppressed, where 
none existed. A few I knew were true, and spoke to 
me soothing words ; but the power of the slave-holder 
had not been reached. Nothing now remained but that 
I must leave the State, and leave my wife and children, 
never more to see them. My friends had now done all 
they could and all they dared to do in my behalf. Is 
it strange that I asked myself why I was thus banished ? 
I had, ever since obtaining my freedom, endeavored so 
to conduct myself as in no way to become obnoxious to 
the white inhabitants, knowing as I did their power and 
their hostility to the colored people. Two things I kept 
constantly in mind. First, to make no display of the 

Down let the shrine of Moloch sink, 

And leave no traces where it stood ; 
Nor longer let its idol drink 

His daily cup of human blood ; 
But rear another altar there, 

To Truth and Love and Mercy given, 
And Freedom's gift and Freedom's prayer, 

Shall call an answer down from Heaven ! 



DARKER DAYS. 99 

little property or money I possessed ; but in every way 
I wore, as much as possible, the aspect of poverty. 
Secondly, I never appeared to know half so much as I 
really did. On no occasion did I seek to intrude my 
intelligence in my conversation with white people. 
This latter rule the people of my race in the South, 
both free and slave, find it pecuharly necessary, for their 
own comfort and safety, to observe. I should, perhaps, 
have mentioned, in the preceding account, that upon the 
same day I received the notice to leave Raleigh, similar 
notices had been served upon two other free colored 
persons who had been slaves, and who, like myself, were 
trying to purchase their families. 

" It will be seen that the Legislature determined to 
make a clean sweep of this troublesome class of citizens. 
These persons took the same course I did to gain time 
to purchase their families : Isaac Hunter, who had a 
family of five children, and Walter Freeman, who had 
six children. Hunter's petition went in before mine, 
and a bill of some sort passed the senate, which was 
modified in the house, allowing him only twenty days 
to leave the State. He has since, as I learned, obtained 
the freedom of his family, and they are now living with 
him in Philadelphia. Freeman's petition received no 
better fate than mine. His family were the property of 
Judge Badger, who was afterward made a member of 
Mr. Harrison's cabinet. When Mr. Badger removed to 
Washington, he took with him, among other slaves, this 
man and his family. Soon after, when Mr. Badger re- 
signed his office, with the other members of the cabinet, 
under President Tyler, he entered into some kind of a 



'- Of 



100 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

contract with Freeman, by which he could purchase liis 
family. He was therefore left at Washington with his 
family, while Mr. B. took the rest of his slaves to 
Raleigh. Freeman, when last I heard from him, was 
endeavoring to raise money to complete the purchase. 



CHAPTER YII, 



'And still, where'er to sun and breeze, 

My country, is thy flag unrolled, 
With scorn the gazin,^ stranger sees 
A stain on every fold. 

•Ah, tear tlie gorgeous emblem down I 

It gathers scorn from every eye, 
And despots smile and good men frown 
Whene'er it passes by. 

' Shame ! shame I its starry splendors glow 
Above the slaver's loathsome jail,— 

Its folds arc ruffling even now 
His crimson flag of sale." 



NEW TRIALS — ARRESTED EN^ BALTIMORE BY KIDNAPPERS — HIS 
DEFENCE — TRIAL BEFORE JUSTICE SHANE ~ LA^VYER WALCH 
—A FRIEND IN NEED— THE LAND-SHARKS LOSE THEIR PREY 
— A CONVERSATION ABOUT MATTERS OF FACT. 

THE treatment which Lunsford had received at the 
h'ands of the Legislature is certainly siirprishig, 
when we consider all the circumstances. Men pos- 
sessed with a spark of our common humanity would 
have given more attention to the prayer of an oppressed 
man, especially one in his position. He had not even 
violated the letter of the law, for the statute was one 
concerning the " migration of free negroes and mulat- 
toes into this State." This was his native State; here 
he was born, and lived, and here he hoped to spend the 
remainder of his days ; but the law did not even per- 
mit him to purchase his freedom ; in no way, except on 
the ground of some " meritorious conduct," could tliis 

9* 101 



102 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

precious boon be conferred, and this must be done by a 
special act of the Legislature. He was therefore com- 
pelled to go to New York to secure this God-given right, 
which, by the hands of wicked men, had been wrested 
from him. Lunsford had always conducted himself 
with great caution in his intercourse with the people of 
his race ; he was respected by some of the best mem- 
bers of the community. He had, by the labor of his 
own hands, acquired one thousand dollars for his own 
freedom, besides paying his mistress the full value of a 
slave's labor. Whilst he was accumulating this sum, he 
was employed by the governors at the State House in a 
position of responsibility, and, according to the state- 
ment of the private Secretary of State (Mr. Battle), 
his services were invaluable, and could not easily be 
replaced by another so trustworthy. In the midst of 
this state of tilings, whilst seeking to purchase the free- 
dom of his wife and children, he is ordered to leave 
the State and all liis affairs in twenty days. It was 
evident, that, for some reason, he was a dangerous 
man in the community ; not that he had violated any 
law, but he was too aspiring in his notions ; he would 
form too brilliant an example to the slave population 
in Raleigh. They might be fired to imitate his in- 
dustry and perseverance, even under the crushing and 
discouraging weight of slavery. To preserve the 
institution intact, every such example of heroism and 
success under great difficulties must be removed ; their 
frequent occurrence would cause nothing but disas- 
ter. But the difficulties interposed between himself 
and freedom were not to end here. Finding that 



NEW TRIALS. 108 

there ..was still some time — nearly three months — 
before the next session of the court, he determines 
to visit his friends in Philadelphia and New York, 
whose acquaintance he had made while on tlie visit 
with Mr. Smith ; his object being to ascertain if any 
assistance could be obtained toward completing the 
purchase. He could do it unaided, had he only time ; 
but the cruel law left him no alternative ; aid must be 
obtained from some source, or final separation from his 
family must inevitably follow. Putting into his carpet- 
bag such things as he needed for the journey, he started, 
accompanied by a free negro, John Jones, a former slave 
of Governor D. S. Swain, at this time President of the 
State University at Chapel Hill, whence Hinton Rowan 
Helper had been expelled. They had carefully placed 
in their pockets their free papers, together with notes 
of introduction to persons in Washington and Balti- 
more. They had also their permits to pass over the 
railroads. Lunsford had the amplest evidence in his 
possession that he was what he represented himself to 
be, — a free man, traveUing upon legitimate business to 
the Northern States. They had heard of the perils that 
beset the people of their race in the cities of Washing- 
ton and Baltimore ; they had listened with tearful eyes 
to the sad stories of many who had been kidnapped 
and sold into slavery, and they were, not without rea- 
son, fearful of trouble. In the days of which we are now 
speaking, the slave-trade had not been driven from the 
District of Columbia ; and slave-pens were in full opera- 
tion there, and in the city of Baltimore. The trade de- 
rived from the eastern shore of Maryland was still quite 



104 MM9_^I^ ^F LUNSFORD LANE. 

largo. On some plantations, little was donG toward the 
cultivation of the soil, and the slaves were allowed an 
easy life, or such moderate exercise as tended to develop 
a healthy and numerous progeny for the Southern mar- 
ket. The sale of half a dozen likely negroes, in the 
spring or fall, was a handsome income, and allowed the 
luxurious planter, or rather breeder, to entertain his 
visitors from the city in a style of splendor impossible 
for the hard-fisted farmer in other portions of the State, 
where his income must be derived wholly from the cul- 
ture of the soil. We liave known plantations of many 
hundred acres, where the products for the table were 
almost entirely derived from tlie Baltimore markets. 
With every facility, they were too indifferent to raise 
beef in sufficient quantity to feed the family and ser- 
vants. The annual store, except of corn and wheat, 
was imported from abroad. 

The trade in human flesh, where it is conducted as a 
business, is carried on with great secrecy. Every kind 
of device is used for decoying children away from 
their parents, and wives from their husbands. Some- 
times the slaves, sent as if on business or pleasure upon 
the grain vessels, of which there is an immense fleet 
plying between Baltimore and the innumerable small 
streams and creeks of the Chesapeake and its tribu- 
taries, become a prey to the trader and his agents, 
who are always on the alert to seize and convey the 
imsuspecting victims to their pens. In this way, un- 
ruly and troublesome servants are disposed of with 
great facility. But let not the reader imagine that he 
has seen, in the above statement, all the horrors of 



NEW TRIALS. 105 

Southern slavery. A deeper depth of iniquity is yet to 
be reached. The stock in trade of these dealers did 
not consist wholly in the class that they knew to be 
slaves. Thousands of slaves have escaped into the 
Northern States, and many others are in different pla- 
ces awaiting the chance of escape. Some of these the 
agents of the trader, who are scattered along the whole 
border dividing the Free from the Slave States, succeed 
in arresting. But every negro, whether they know 
him to be a slave or a freeman, coming within their 
power, is in danger of being consigned to the fearful 
servitude. Every colored man, if a stranger, passing 
through the State, whether by railroad or upon the 
highways, is considered a slave escaping from his mas- 
ter. If he has the most undoubted evidence that he is 
a freeman, or has some friend at hand who can vouch 
for him, he may succeed in escaping their clutches. 

Lunsford, on reaching Washington, called upon Mr. 
Joseph Gales, the father of Mr. Gales, of the firm of 
Gales & Seaton, proprietors at that time of the Intelli- 
gencer. The old gentleman had visited his former mas- 
ter's house in Raleigh, and had thus been led to take an 
interest in Lunsford, which was much increased when he 
learned from his own lips and from his papers the ob- 
ject of his mission to the North. Knowing the fearful 
hazard he must run in passing through a Slave State, as 
he was about to depart, Mr. Gales said to him, '' Luns- 
ford, I had better give you a few lines to our mutual 
friend, Gideon Smith, of Baltimore ; you may have 
some trouble in getting through." The villanous char- 
acter of the slave-trader was, to some extent, known 



106 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

to Mr. Gales. Thus provided, Lunsford and Jones 
reached Baltimore on Saturday afternoon, and put up 
at a very respectable boarding-house, kept by Henry D. 
Butler, a colored man. The next day being Sunday, 
they spent part of Saturday evening in preparation, 
and in making inquiry about the places of religious 
worship, arranging their plans as to how they could see 
and hear the most in their brief stay, intending to leave 
early on Monday morning for Philadelphia. Little did 
they dream that even then the land-sharks employed 
by the Slaters and the Woodforks were upon their 
track, and had been, from the moment the cars landed 
them at the depot on Pratt Street. They had followed 
them to Butler's boarding-house, and, even in the guise 
of casual callers, heard the plans of Lunsford and Jones 
for the morrow. Lunsford attended church in the morn- 
ing, and had returned to dinner. As his companion, 
who had attended a different place of worship, had not 
made his appearance, he began to feel uneasy; but his 
fears for his friend were soon changed to a sense of the 
terrible reality of his own situation : the door opened, and 
three men entered and arrested him, asserting, at the 
same time, that they were officers of the law (a base 
falsehood). They briefly stated that his companion, 
Jones, had been arrested as a runaway, and was now 
lodged in their prison on Pratt Street, and that they also 
suspected him as travelling under false pretences ; that 
they had been ordered to arrest him, that he might un- 
dergo an examination, now, at their office. The office 
of the Slaters was in the first story of a handsome brick 
building on Pratt Street, back of which was the slave 



ARRESTED BY KIDNAPPERS. 107 

prison. The stranger passing this establishment, as we 
have done, would never suspect the unrecorded out- 
rages which those interior walls have witnessed. Many 
have been the victims who have issued from them 
only to pass into the hojDeless condition of a brief and 
cruel service upon the rice and cotton plantations of 
the South. 

These emissaries of the trader very coolly con- 
ducted Lunsford to the office of their employers on 
Pratt Street. Feeling quite satisfied that he couldy for 
the present, at least, manage his own case, and being 
pretty well informed as to the character of the men 
who were now seeking to get him into their power, he 
accompanied the men with no hesitation, and with but 
slight perturbation of mind; he felt indignant, and he 
was determined to assume, in their presence, a bold and 
confident defence. Of course they had their case ready, 
and the reasons why they had ordered his arrest, — they 
had received letters informing them that slaves had es- 
caped from North Carolina, and he and his companion 
answered very closely to the descriptions sent the^n. 
They had other evidence, leading them to believe that 
they were the identical slaves who had escaped. They 
closed by demanding the evidence that he was a free- 
man. Lunsford, in reply, gave a plain, unvarnished 
statement of his former position in Raleigh ; the name 
of his former master ; his having purchased his freedom ; 
and all the circumstances leading to his present jour- 
ney. He produced his permit to travel, and referred 
them to persons in Washington to whom they could 
write. He dared not produce his free papers, or it 



108 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

them see his letters of introduction, as he feared they 
would unhesitatingly destroy them if once in their 
hands. He learned that they had taken from Jones his 
free papers. They finally asked for his. He very pru- 
dently stated to them that if he was now before the 
proper officers of the law, who had a right to examine 
them, he would readily produce them, but not other- 
wise ; if they could convince liim that this was the 
proper place to deliver up his papers, he would not 
hesitate to do so. He said also that he had letters 
of introduction to persons in the city whom he had 
not yet seen ; but these he was not prepared to show 
them. He should deliver them in the morning, and 
he might then convince them that he was what he 
stated himself to be, — a freeman. Unwilling to allow 
their victim to escape so easily, they suggested to him 
that he might leave the city before to-morrow. They 
furthermore stated that it had been determined to 
try both their cases on Monday morning, at ten a. m., 
before Squire Shane, and that it might be neces- 
sary to put him with his friend Jones, for safe-keep- 
ing! Lunsford stated that it was not his purpose to 
leave the city until his friend Jones was liberated, 
and his free papers restored to him. That he should 
be ready to accompany the proper officers to Squire 
Shane's, at the hour appointed ; that till then he could 
be found at his boarding-house. Finding that they 
had made some mistake in the kind of chattel they had 
arrested, they concluded to defer the case until the time 
appointed. With some feeling of chagrin, he was allowed 
to depart. On returning to the boarding-house, he 



ARRESTED BY KIDNAPPERS. 109 

found his friends in a state of great alarm ; and when 
they Iqarned that the case was to be tried before Squire 
Shane, hope ahiiost forsook them. It was notorious that 
Shane had seldom been known to decide a case, no 
matter what the evidence, in favor of a colored man's 
freedom. It was determined, if they could not have 
the case tried before some other justice of the peace, to 
make the best defence they could. His first duty was 
to obtam the best legal advice. On inquiry, he found 
that there was only one lawyer in town who had taken 
much interest in these cases, and who had been the in- 
strument in defeating the schemes of these unprinci- 
pled men. This man was Mr. Walch, at this time just 
commencing his career, and, with honor be it said, he 
exhibited a humanity and sense of justice, on this occa- 
sion, deserving of great praise. 

Lunsfoi-d, in company with his friend, Gideon Smith, 
to whom he had a note of introduction from Mr. Gales, 
called upon Lawyer Walch and made known to him the 
condition of his affairs, submitting to his examination 
his papers and letters. These were all satisfactory. It 
was, therefore, arranged that Mr. Walch should meet 
their adversaries at ten a. m. on Monday morning. 
Lunsford and his friend Gideon were on hand. So were 
those pretended ofi&cers of the law, with their man 
Jones, and were proceeding in great haste to dispose of 
their cases. Shane, on looking over the papers of 
Jones, decided that he could find in them no certain 
evidence of his being a freeman ; these papers may 
have been forged, as many instances attested ; he 
must produce some one besides his friend here (Luns- 

10 



110 MEMOIR OF LUNSFOED LANE. 

ford), who could state upon his own authority, and 
from his personal knowledge, that he knew him to be a 
freeman. He had had too many cases of runaways 
lately, and it was necessary to be more than commonly 
guarded. Unless other and stronger proof could be ad- 
duced, he must decide against the liberation of Jones. 
He was about proceeding with Lunsford's case, and had 
commenced to ask some questions, when Mr. Walch 
came in. One glance at the assembly told Mr. Walch 
that these unfortunate negroes were in the hands of 
unscrupulous and wicked men. He had met and 
thwarted their malicious designs upon other occasions, 
and he felt now he had a strong case. Arresting- 
Squire Shane in the midst of his remarks, he de- 
manded, as the counsel of the accused, a restatement 
of the proceedings thus far, and an account of the evi- 
dence already adduced to show that these men were 
slaves. They were unable to produce a single positive 
proof of the truth of their assumptions. He allowed 
the squire to proceed with the examination of Lunsford ; 
the substance of which varied but little from that in 
respect to Jones. They had received letters from 
North Carolina respecting escaped slaves, and the de- 
scription very closely corresponded to these negroes. 
When asked to produce these letters and description, 
they were not ready to comply. Lawyer Walch then 
commenced by giving a brief history of the many per- 
sons of color who had recently been kidnapped and 
sold into hopeless slavery ; that the business had now 
become so common that a free colored man found it al- 
most impossible to pass safely from one State to another. 



HIS DEFENCE. Ill 

without being gobbled up by the most unprincipled men 
in the community ; that it was unsafe for them to reside 
on the border of the Free States, where there was great 
danger of being hurried by the agents of the soulless 
trader from their homes and families, and consigned to 
involuntary servitude. In the absence, then, of any 
proof that these men are runaways, let us look at the 
evidence in their favor ; let us examine their papers 
and the circumstances of their advent here. Both these 
men have well-authenticated free papers, — those of 
Lunsford showing that he was made a freeman of the 
State of New York ; they are signed by men known 
to us, and have no appearance of being forged. In ad- 
dition to this, they give us the names of highly respect- 
able gentlemen in Washington and Raleigh, also known 
to us, to whom we can write. They have letters from 
such men as the venerable Mr. Gales, of Washington, 
and to this gentleman present, Mr. Gideon Smith, well 
known in this community. Mr. Smith is also ready to 
testify that he knew the master of Lunsford in Raleigh, 
and of his having purchased his freedom. Now, how 
had these men come into the city ? Not in the night- 
time, crawling away under cover of the forest to es- 
cape the sight of men, but in broad daylight, upon one 
of the public conveyances ; they repair to a respectable 
boarding-house, kept by a colored man, known in this 
city for his uprightness of character. This is on Satur- 
day evening. How did they spend their Sabbath ? 
Not secreted from the public, shut up in those secluded 
hiding-places for runaways, but they arVange their 
plans, as Christians should, to attend the house of God 



112 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

on the day set apart for his worship. They are arrested 
upon this day ; one of them (Jones), upon his way from 
the house of God, is unceremoniously, and without 
authority, upon bare suspicion of persons interested in 
the slave-trade, consigned to prison, — not to the public 
prison, but to one of those private institutions for the 
safe-keeping of slaves awaiting a market. Let us look 
at tlie character of those who have made these arrests : 
they are not the authorized officers of the law, but 
agents of individuals interested in consigning free per- 
sons to slavery. "I forbear an expression of the abhor- 
rence I feel for men capable of such infamous con- 
duct, — deeply do I commiserate the free colored peo- 
ple who are so unfortunate as to be entrapped in their 
wiles." By this time. Lawyer Walch had succeeded in 
fully establishing their right to freedom, and arousing 
the just indignation of all present against these wretches, 
who cowered beneath his eloquent and truthful denun- 
ciations. He showed, in the most convincing way, the 
unmitigated rascality of the deed which these emissaries 
of the slave-power meant to inflict upon the wronged 
and inoffensive men. Justice Shane, for once, in view 
of incontrovertible evidence, quietly determined to dis- 
miss the case. Great was the joy of Lunsford and his 
companion at their liberation from the hands of these 
men. Had Lunsford been a man of less character and 
standing in the State whence he came ; had he been 
less informed in regard to cases of kidnapping and the 
means used by unscrupulous men to decoy away their 
victims ; had he been less upon his guard ; had he used 
only a little less effort in vindication of his freedom, he 



THE LAND-SHARKS LOSE THEIR PREY. 118 

and his companion would, doubtless, have been con- 
signed to slavery for life. But, thanks to that overrul- 
ing Providence which had preserved him so far, he was 
not permitted to feel this additional sorrow. Lunsford 
and his companion were received by their friends at 
the boarding-house of Mr. Butler, after the trial, with 
expressions of joy which they could not repress. Many 
sympathizers were there gathered, and they spent some 
time in discussing all the events of the day, and 
called to mind the cases of friends who had not been 
so fortunate as they, and who had, in spite of their 
right to freedom, been stolen by these men and sold 
South; some of them they had heard from; but the 
great majority were beyond the region of hope or 
sympathy, compelled to end their days in toil unre- 
quited, and in a life of infamy. Lunsford and Jones, 
unable to continue their journey as they had intended, 
determined to remain with their friend, Mr. Butler, until 
Tuesday morning. These friends spent their evening 
in recounting instances of similar outrages upon their 
acquaintances which had occurred in late years. Luns- 
ford's retentive memory enabled him to relate many 
instances of sufficient atrociousness to convict the insti- 
tution of a barbarism unequalled in human annals. 
The case of Rachel Parker, a free colored girl, excited 
much interest. " She was kidnapped," said Lunsford, 
" from the house of Joseph S. Miller, of West Notting- 
ham, Pennsylvania, by the notorious Elkton kidnapper, 
McCreary. Mr. Miller tracked the kidnappers to Bal- 
timore and tried to recover the girl, but in vain. On 
his way home he was induced to leave the cars, and 

10* 



114 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

was undoubtedly murdered, — it is supposed in revenge 
for the death of Gorsuch, at Christiana. Mr. Miller's 
body was found suspended from a tree. A suit was 
brought, as you may remember, Mr. Butler," said Luns- 
ford, " in the circuit court of Baltimore County, near 
where we now are, for the freedom of Rachel Parker. 
Over sixty witnesses from Pennsylvania attended to tes- 
tify to her being free-born, and that she was not the 
person she was claimed to be ; although, in great bod- 
ily terror, she had, after her captivity, confessed herself 
the alleged slave ! So complete and strong was the evi- 
dence in her favor that after eight days' trial the claim- 
ants abandoned the case, and a verdict was rendered for 
the freedom of Rachel, and also of her sister, Elizabeth 
Parker, who had been kidnapped and conveyed to New 
Orleans." The case of Gorsuch being alluded to, some 
one inquired for the particulars ; as the case excited 
great interest in Baltimore at the time, Mr. Butler gave 
them the particulars. The incident occurred at Chris- 
tiana, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. " Edward Gor- 
such, represented," said he, " by those who knew him, 
as a very pious member of a Methodist Church, with 
his son Dickinson, accompanied by the sheriff of Lan- 
caster County, Pennsylvania, and by a Philadelphia offi- 
cer, named Henry Kline, went to Christiana to arrest 
certain slaves of his who, as he had been privately in- 
formed by a wretch named Padgett, were living there. 
An attack was made upon the house, the slave-holder 
declaring that he ' would not leave the place alive with- 
out his slaves.' ' Then,' replied one of them, ' you will 
not leave here alive.' Maiiy shots were fired on both 



MATTERS OF FACT. 115 

sides, and the slave-hunter, Edward Gorsuch, was 
killed." "Not many years since," said Lunsford, ''a 
case occurred in Indianapolis which is well authenti- 
cated, where the poor man had even more difficulty 
than Rachel Parker in escaping slavery. John Free- 
man, a free colored man, was there seized and claimed 
as the slave of one Pleasant Ellington, a member of the 
Methodist Church of Missouri. Freeman pledged him- 
self to prove that he was not the person he was alleged 
to be. The United States marshal consented to his 
having time for this, provided he would go to jail and 
pay three dollars a day for a guard to keep him secure ! 
Bonds to any amount to secure the marshal against loss, 
if Freeman could go at large, were rejected. Freeman's 
counsel went to Georgia, and, after many days, returned 
with a venerable and highly respectable gentleman from 
Georgia, Mr. Patillo, who voluntarily made the long 
journey for the sole purpose of testifying to his knowl- 
edge of Freeman, and that he was well known to be 
free. But Freeman was still kept in jail. After sev- 
eral days, Ellington brought witnesses to prove Freeman 
to be his slave. The witnesses and the counsel wished 
to have Freeman strip himself to be examined naked. 
By advice of his counsel he refused. The marshal took 
him to his cell and compelled him to strip. The wit- 
nesses then swore that he was Ellington's property. 
Freeman's counsel then produced further evidence that 
he had been known as a freeman tiuenty years. El- 
lington claimed that he had escaped from him sixteen 
years before. The man who did escape Ellington just 
sixteen years before was discovered to be living near 



116 MEMOIR OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

Maiden, Canada ! Two of the Kentucky witnesses had 
visited and recognized him. Freeman was thereupon 
released, with a large debt upon him, — one thousand 
two hundred dollars, — which had grown up by the un- 
usually heavy expenses of his defence and long impris- 
onment. Freeman brought a suit against Ellington for 
false imprisonment, laying damages at ten thousand 
dollars. A verdict for two thousand dollars was given 
in his favor, which was agreed to by Ellington's coun- 
sel." The above incident reminded Lunsford of the case 
of an old acquaintance, whom in his boyhood he had 
known in Raleigh, but who when quite young was sold 
to a Virginia planter. He early achieved his freedom, 
and removed to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and became 
waiter at the Phoenix Hotel. His sad story he gleaned 
from his friends and from the newspapers. William 
Thomas, or Bill, as he was called, Lunsford described 
as " a tall, noble-looking, intelligent and active mulatto, 
nearly white." Whilst attending to his duties as usual at 
the hotel, he was suddenly attacked by one Wynkoop, 
a deputy marshal under the fugitive slave law, and four 
others, three of them Virginians in search of supposed 
runaways. These men came suddenly from behind, 
knocked him down with a mace, and partially shackled 
him. He struggled hard against the five, shook them 
off, and with the handcuff, which had been secured to 
his right wrist only, inflicted some hard wounds on the 
faces of his assailants. Covered with blood, he broke 
from them, rushed from the house and plunged in the 
river close by, exclaiming, " I will be drowned rather 
than taken alive." He was pursued, fired upon repeat- 



MATTERS OF FACT. 117 

edly, ordered to come out of the water, where he stood 
immersed to his neck, or " they would blow his brains 
out." He replied, " I witl die first." They then delib- 
erately fired at him four or five different times, the last 
ball supposed to have struck on his head, for his face 
was instantly covered with blood, and, uttering a cry, 
he sprang up in the water. The by-standers began to 
cry " Shame ! " and the kidnappers retired a short dis- 
tance for consultation. Bill came out of the water and 
lay down on the shore. His pursuers, supposing him 
dying, said, " Dead niggers are not worth taking South." 
Some one brought him a dry pair of pantaloons. He 
was helped to his feet by a colored man named Rex ; on 
seeing which Wynkoop and party headed him and pre- 
sented their revolvers, when poor Bill again ran into 
the river. Here he remained upwards of an hour, 
nothing but his head being above water, covered with 
blood, and in full view of hundreds who lined the 
banks. The atrocious character of the deed was long 
in penetrating the heads and hearts of these free, white 
American citizens. At length a few tardy preparations 
were made to arrest the murderous gang, but they had 
departed from the town. His claimants dared not pur- 
sue their victim further into the water, for, as he after- 
ward declared, "he would have died contented could 
he have carried two or three of them down with him." 
After his pursuers had gone. Bill waded some distance 
up the stream, and was found by some women, lying 
upon his face in a cornfield. They carried him to a 
place of safety and dressed his wounds. He soon dis- 
appeared from Wilkesbarre, and the last heard of poor 



118 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Bill he was seeking a livelihood in one of the Canadian 
provinces, where this odious slave-hunting law has no 
existence. The demoralization to which a portion of our 
Christian community can descend is seen in the subse- 
quent career of this Wynkoop, the appointed agent of 
the government in this transaction. This man and 
another were, not long afterward, arrested in Philadel- 
phia on a charge of riot, the warrant issuing from the 
State magistrate of Wilkesbarre, on complaint of Wil- 
liam C. Gildersleeve of that place. Mr. Jackson, the 
constable who held them in custody, was brought before 
Judge Grier, of the United States Supreme Court, by 
habeas corpus. Judge Grier, during the examination, 
illustrated by his conduct how a villain can be shielded 
from punishment under the forms of law. " I will not," 
said the judge, " have the officers of the United States 
harassed at every step in the performance of their du- 
ties by every petty magistrate who chooses to harass 
them, or by any unprincipled interloper who chooses to 
make complaints against them, — for I know some- 
thing of this man who makes this complaint. If 
this man Gildersleeve fails to make out the facts set 
forth in tliQ warrant of arrest, I will request the prose- 
cuting attorney of Luzerne County to prosecute him for 

perjury If any tuppenny magistrate, or any 

unprincipled interloper, can come in and cause to be 
arrested the officers of the United States whenever they 

please, it is a sad affair If habeas corpuses 

are to be taken out after this manner I will have an in- 
dictment sent to the United States Grand Jury against 
the person who applies for the writ, or assists in getting 



MATTERS OF FACT. 119 

it, the lawyer who defends it, and the sheriff who serves 
the writ. I will see that my officers are protected." 
The wickedness of this law is seen in the fact that it 
not only suppresses every humane feeling to help our 
suffering fellow-men, but it compels the officers of the 
law to arrest and shoot down defenceless human beings, 
whose greatest crime against the State is that they loved 
freedom too much ! " On a subsequent day," concluded 
Lunsford, " these prisoners were discharged, Wynkoop 
among the rest, the judge making this deliberate state- 
ment, in view of all the facts above related : ' We are 
unable to perceive in this transaction anything worthy 
of blame in the conduct of these officers in their unsuc- 
cessful endeavors to fulfil a most dangerous and dis- 
gusting duty; except^ perhaps, a want of sufficient cour- 
age and perseverance in the attempt to execute the 
writ.' " * Mr. Butler had been listening attentively to 
the above account, and, as Lunsford concluded, he drew 
from his pocket a tract which he said had been handed 
to him a few days before by a friend of the colored peo- 
ple in Baltimore, who was then engaged in editing a 
weekly paper in that city, wherein he was seeking, in 
a cautious way, to bring the subject of emancipation 
before the people of Maryland. (This gentleman was 
subsequently driven from the city by a mob.) Mr. But- 
ler, at the desire of all present, read, in a distinct voice, 
the following thrilling narrative of facts, pertaining to 
Margaret Garner and seven others^ occurring at Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, January, 1836 : — f 

*See tract on " The Fugitive Slave Law and its Victims," p. 31. 

t We have antedated this event only twenty years ; it occurred in 1866. 



120 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" Of this peculiarly painful case, we give a somewhat 
detailed account, mainly taken from the Cincinnati pa- 
pers of the day. It strikingly illustrates the manner 
in which, in nearly all instances, the laws and author- 
ity of the Free States are swept away before those which 
the national government enacts in behalf of slaver}'', 
and how little protection the poor and the oppressed 
can expect from either. 

" About ten o'clock on Sunday, 27th January, 1836, 
a party of eight slaves, — two men, two women, and 
four children, — belonging to Archibald K. Gaines and 
John Marshall, of Richwood Station, Boone County, 
Kentucky, about sixteen miles from Covington, escaped 
from their owners. Three of the party are father, 
mother, and son, whose names are Simon, Mary, and 
Simon, Jr. ; the others are Margaret, wife of Simon, 
Jr., and her four children. The three first are the 
property of Marshall, and the others of Gaines. 

" They took a sleigh and two horses belonging to Mr. 
Marshall, and drove to the river-bank, opposite Cincin- 
nati, and crossed over to the city on the ice. They 
were missed a few hours after their flight, and Mr. 
Gaines, springing on a horse, followed in pursuit. On 
reaching the river-shore he learned that a resident had 
found the horses standing in the road. He then crossed 
over to the city, and after a few hours' diligent inquiry 
he learned that his slaves were in a house about a quar- 
ter of a mile below the Mill Creek Bridge, on the river 
road, occupied by a colored man, named Kite. 

" He proceeded to the office of United States Com- 
missioner John L. Pendery, and, procuring the necessary 



MATTERS OF FACT. 121 

warrants, with United States Deputy Marshal Ellis and 
a large body of assistants, went on Monday to the place 
where his fugitives were concealed. Arriving at the 
premises, word was sent to the fugitives to surrender. 
A firm and decided negative was the response. The 
officers, backed by a large crowd, then made a descent. 
Breaking open the doors, they were assailed by the ne- 
groes with cudgels and pistols. Several shots were 
fired, but only one took eftect, so far as we could ascer- 
tain. A bullet struck a man named John Patterson, 
one of the marshal's deputies, tearing off a finger of his 
right hand, and dislocating several of his teeth. No 
others of the officers were injured, the negroes being 
disarmed before they could reload their weapons. 

" On looking around, horrible was the sight which met 
the officers' eyes. In one corner of the room was a 
nearly white child, bleeding to death. Her throat was 
cut from ear to ear, and the blood was spouting out 
profusely, showing that the deed was but recently com- 
mitted. Scarcely was this fact noticed, when a scream 
issuing from an adjoining room drew their attention 
thither. A glance into the apartment revealed a negro 
woman holding in her hand a knife literally dripping 
with gore over the heads of two little negro children, 
who were crouched to the floor, and uttering the cries 
whose agonized peals had first startled them. Quickly 
the knife was wrested from the hand of the excited wo- 
man, and a more close investigation instituted as to the 
condition of the infants. They were discovered to be 
cut across the head and shoulders, but not very seri- 



11 



122 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ously injured, although the blood trickled down their 
backs and upon their clothes. 

" The woman avowed herself the mother of the chil- 
dren, and said that she had killed one, and would like 
to kill the three others, rather than see them again re- 
duced to slavery ! By this time the crowd about the 
premises had become prodigious, and it was with no 
inconsiderable difficulty that the negroes were secured 
m carriages and brought to the United States District 
Court rooms on Fourth Street. The populace followed 
the vehicle closely, but evinced no active desire to effect 
a rescue. Rumors of the story soon circulated all over 
the city. Nor were they exaggerated, as is usually the 
case. For once, reality surpassed the wildest thought 
of fiction. 

'' The slaves, on reaching the marshal's office, seated 
themselves around the stove with dejected countenances, 
and preserved a moody silence, answering all questions 
propounded to them in monosyllables, or refusing to 
answer at all. Simon is apparently about fifty-five 
years of age, and Mary about fifty. The son of Mr. 
Marshall, who is here in order, if possible, to recover 
the property of his father, says that they have always 
been faithful servants, and have frequently been on this 
side of the river. Simon, Jr., is a young man about 
twenty-two years old, of a very lithe and active form, 
and a rather mild and pleasant countenance. Marga- 
ret is a dark mulatto, twenty-three years of age ; her 
countenance is far^ from being vicious, and her senses, 
yesterday, appeared partially stupefied from the excit- 
ing trial she had endured. After remaining about two 



MATTERS OF FACT. 128 

hours at the marshal's office, Commissioner Pendery 
announced that the slaves would be removed in the 
custody of the United States marshal, until nine o'clock 
Tuesday morning, when the case would come up for 
examination. The slaves were then taken down to the 
street door, where a wild and exciting scene presented 
itself. The sidewalks and the middle of the street were 
thronged with people, and a couple of coaches were at 
the door, in order to convey the captives to the station- 
house. The slaves were guarded by a strong posse of 
officers, and, as they made their appearance on the 
street, it was evident that there was a strong sympathy 
in their favor. When they were led to the carriage- 
doors there were loud cries of ' Drive on ! ' ' Don't take 
them ! ' The coachmen, either from alarm, or from a 
sympathetic feeling, put the whip to their horses and 
drove rapidly off, leaving the officers with their fugi- 
tives on the sidewalk. They started on foot with their 
charge to the Hammond Street station-house, where 
they secured their prisoners for the night. The slaves 
claimed that they had been on this side of the river fre- 
quently, by consent of their masters. About three 
o'clock application was made to Judge Burgoyne for a 
writ of habeas corpus to bring the slaves before him. 
This was put in the hands of an Ohio officer. Deputy 
Sheriff Buckingham, to serve, who, accompanied by 
several assistants, proceeded to Hammond Street sta- 
tion-house, where the slaves were lodged. Mr. Bennett, 
Deputy United States Marshal, was unwilling to give 
them up to the State authorities, and a long time was 
spent parleying between the marshal and the sheriil's 



124: MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

officers. The sheriff being determined that the writ 
should be executed, Mr. Bennett went out to take coun- 
sel with his friends. Finally, through the advice of 
Mayor Faran, Mr. Bennett agreed to lodge the slaves in 
the jail, ready to be taken out at the order of Judge 
Burgoyne. Mr. Buckingham obtained the complete 
control of the slaves. 

" On the morning of the 29th, Sheriff Brashear, be- 
ing advised by lawyers that Judge Burgoyne had no 
right to issue his writ for the slaves, and remembering 
Judge McLean's decision in the Rosetta case, made a 
return on the writ of habeas corpus, that the slaves 
were in the custody of the United States marshal, and, 
therefore, without his jurisdiction. This returned the 
slaves to the custody of the marshal. By agreement, 
the parties permitted the slaves to remain in the county 
jail during that day, with the understanding that their 
examination should commence the next morning, before 
Commissioner Pendery. Thus the State of Ohio was 
made the jailer of these slaves, while her officer. Sheriff 
Brashear, lyingly pretended they were not within the 
State's jurisdiction. An inquest had been held on the 
body of the child which was killed, and a verdict was 
found by the jury charging the death of the child upon 
the mother, who, it was said, would be held under the 
laws of Ohio to answer the charge of murder. An ex- 
amination took place on Wednesday before the United 
States commissioner. Time was allowed their counsel 
to obtain evidence to show that they had been brought 
iiito the State at former times by their masters. A 
meeting of citizens was held on Thursday evening to 
expre^'s sympathy with the alleged fugitives. 



MATTERS OF FACT. 125 

" The Cincinnati Commercial^ of January 30, said, 
■ — 'The mother is of an interestmg appearance, a mu- 
latto of considerable intelligence of manner, and with 
a good address. In reply to a gentleman who yester- 
day complimented her upon the looks of her little boy, 
she said, "You should have seen my little girl that — 
that — (she did not like to say, was killed) — that died ; 
that was the bird." ' _. 

"The Cincinnati Gazette of January 30, said, — 
' We learn that the mother of the dead child acknowl- 
edges that she killed it, and that her determination was 
to have killed all the children, and then destroy herself, 
rather than return to slavery. She and the others com- 
plain of cruel treatment on the part of their masters, 
and allege that as the cause of their attempted escape.' 

" The jury gave a verdict as follows : — ' That said 
child was killed by its mother, Margaret Garner, with 
a butcher-knife, with which she cut its throat.' Tivo 
of the jurors also find that the two men, arrested as fu- 
gitives, were accessories to the murder. ' The murdered 
child was almost white, and was a little girl of rare 
beauty.' The examination of witnesses was continued 
until Monday, February 4th, when the commissioner 
listened to the arguments of counsel until the seventh. 
Messrs. JoUiffe and Getchell appeared for the fugitives, 
and Colonel Chambers, of Cincinnati, and Mr. Finnell, 
of Covington, Ky., for the claimants of the slaves. A 
great number of assistants, amounting very nearly to 
five hundred, were employed by the United States mar- 
shal, H. H. Robinson, from the first, making the ex- 
penses to the United States government very large ; 
11* 



126 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

for their twenty-eight days' service alone, at two dollars 
per day, amounting to over twenty-two thousand dol- 
lars. February 8th the case closed, so far as related 
to the three slaves of Mr. Marshall, but the decision 
was postponed. The examination in regard to Marga- 
ret and her children was further continued. It was 
publicly stated Commissioner Pendery had declared 
that he ' would not send the woman back into slavery 
while a charge or indictment "for murder lay against 
her.' Colonel Chambers, counsel for the slave-claim- 
ants, feeling that he was outraging the moral sense of a 
free community, in the decision he was about to give, 
eagerly sought the assistance of a Northern divine, in 
his argument, reading long extracts from a pamphlet 
entitled, ' A Northern Presbyter's Second Letter to Min- 
isters of the Gospel of all Denominations, on Slavery, 
by Nathan Lord, of Dartmouth College ; ' * he himself 
approving and recommending Dr. Lord's views. At the 
close of the hearing, February 14th, the commis- 
sioner adjourned his court to the twenty-first ; after- 
ward to the twenty-sixth, when, he said, he would give 
his decision. Meantime the case was making some pro- 
gress in the State courts. Sheriff Brashear having 
made return to the Common Pleas Court that the fugi- 
tives were in the custody of the United States marshal. 
Judge Carter said this could not be received as a true 
return, as they were in the county jail, under the sher- 
IlFs control. The sheriff then amended his return so 
as to state that the prisoners were in his custody, as re- 

* We understand that this divine has lately seen fit to resign his position in 
this college. 



MATTERS OF FACT. 127 

quired in the writ, and this was received by the Court. 
The fugitives now came fully into the charge of the 
State authorities. The sheriff held them ' by virtue of 
a capias issued on an indictment by the Grand Jury for 
murder.' 

" The slaves declared they would go dancing to the 
gallows, rather than to be sent back into slavery. 

" In the progress of the case it was decided by Judge 
Loavitt that the custody of the slaves was not with 
Ohio, but with the United States marshal. The subse- 
quent arguments all tended to one point, — the rendi- 
tion of the fugitives to slavery. An effort was made by 
Mr. Jolliffe to save the children, but in vain. The Cin- 
cinnati Columbian^ of February 29th, gave the follow- 
ing account : — • The last act in the drama of the fugi- 
tives was yesterday performed by the rendition of the 
seven persons whose advent into this city, under the 
bloody auspices of murder, caused such a sensation in 
the community. After the decision of Judge Leavitt, 
Sheriff Brashear surrendered the four fugitives in his 
custody, under a capias from an Ohio court, to United 
States Marshal Robinson. An omnibus was brought to 
the jail, and the fugitives were led into it, a crowd of 
spectators looking on. Margaret was in custody of Dep- 
uty Marshal Brown. She appeared greatly depressed 
and dispirited. The little infant, Silla, was carried by 
Russell, the door-keeper of the United States Court, 
and was crying violently. Pollock, the reporter of the 
proceedings in the United States Court, conducted 
another of the fugitives, and all were safely lodged in 
the omnibus, which drove down to the Covington ferry- 



128 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

boat; but, although a large crowd followed it, no hootings 
or other signs of excitement or disapprobation were 
shown. On arriving at the Kentucky shore, a, large 
crowd was in attendance, which expressed its pleasure 
at the termination of the long proceedings in this city, 
by triumphant shouts. The fugitives were escorted to 
jail, where they were safely incarcerated, and the crowd 
moved off to the Magnolia Hotel, where several toasts 
were given and drank. The crowd outside were ad- 
dressed from the balcony by H. H. Robinson, Esq., 
United States Marshal for the Southern District of 
Ohio, who declared that he had done his duty and no 
more, and that it was a pleasure to him to perform an 
act that added another link to the glorious chain that 
bound the Union. (What a Union ! For what ' glori- 
ous ' purposes !) 

" ' Mi\ Finnell, attorney for the claimants, said he 
never loved the Union so dearly as now. It was 
proved to be a substantial reality. 

" ' Judge Flinn also addressed to Mie crowd one of 
his peculiar orations ; and was followed by Mr. Gaines, 
owner of Margaret and the children. After hearty 
cheering, the crowd dispersed. 

" ' Further to signalize their triumph, the slave-hold- 
ers set on the Covington mob to attack Mr. Babb, re- 
porter for one of the Cincinnati papers, on the charge 
of being an abolitionist, and that gentleman was 
knocked down, kicked, trampled on, and would un- 
doubtedly have been murdered, but for the interference 
of some of the United States deputy marshals.' 

" On the Sunday after the delivery of the slaves, they 



MATTERS OF FACT. 129 

were visited in the Covington jail by Rev. P. C. Basset, 

whose account of his interview, especially with Marga- 
ret, was published in the American Baptist, and may 
also be found in the National Anti- Slavery Standard, 
of March 15, 1840. Margaret confessed that she had 
killed the child. ' I inquired,' says Mr. Bassett, ' if she 
were not excited almost to madness when she commit- 
ted the act ? " No," she rephed ; " I was as cool as I 
now am; and would much rather kill them at once, 
and thus end their sufferings, than have them taken 
back to slavery and be murdered by piecemeal." She 
then told the story of her wrongs. She spoke of her 
days of unmitigated toil, of her nights of suffering, 
while the bitter tears coursed their way down her 
cheeks.' 

" Governor Chase, of Ohio, made a requisition upon 
Governor Morehead, of Kentucky, for the surrender of 
Margaret Garner, charged with murder. The requisi- 
tion was taken by Joseph Cooper, Esq., to Gov. More- 
head, at Frankfort, on the sixth of March, — an unpar- 
donable delay. Gov. Morehead issued an order for the 
surrender of Margaret. On taking it to Louisville, Mr. 
Cooper found that Margaret, with her infant child, and 
the rest of Mr. Gaines's slaves, had been sent down the 
river, in the steamboat Henry Lewis, to be sold in Ar- 
kansas. Thus it was that Gaines kept his pledged 
word that Margaret should be surrendered upon the 
requisition of the governor of Ohio ! On the passage 
down the Ohio, the steamboat in which the slaves were 
embarked came in coUision with another boat, and so 
violently that Margaret and her child, with many oth- 



130 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ers, were thrown into the water. About twenty-five 
persons perished. A colored man seized Margaret and 
drew her back to the boat, but her babe was drowned ! 
^The mother,' says a correspondent of the Louisville 
Courier^ ' exhibited no other feeling than joy at the loss 
of her child.' So closed another act of this terrible 
tragedy. The slaves were transferred to another boat, 
and taken to their destination. (See Mr. Cooper's let- 
ter to Gov. Chase, dated Columbus, March 11, 1846.) 
Almost immediately on the above tragic news, followed 
tlie tidings that Gaines had determined to bring Marga- 
ret back to Covington, Ky., and hold her subject to the 
requisition of the governor of Ohio. Evidently he 
could not stand up under the infamy of his conduct. 
Margaret was brought back and placed in Covington 
jail, to await a requisition. On Wednesday, Mr. Cox, 
the prosecuting attorney, received the necessary papers 
from Gov. Chase, and the next day (Thursday), — again 
a culpable delay, — two of the sheriff's deputies went 
over to Covington for Margaret, but did not find her, as 
she had been taken away from the jail the night before. 
The jailer said he had given her up on Wednesday 
night, to a man who came there with a written order 
from her master, Gaines, but could not tell where she 
had been taken. The officers came back and made a 
return, ' not found.' 

" The Cincinnati Gazette said, — ' On Friday, our 
sheriff received information which induced him to be- 
lieve that she had been sent on the railroad to Lexing- 
ton, thence via Frankfort to Louisville, there to be 
shipped off to the New Orleans slave market. 



MATTERS OF FACT. 131 

" ' He immediately telegraphed to the sheriff at Lou- 
isville (who holds the original warrant from Gov. More- 
head, granted on the requisition of Gov. Chase) to arrest 
her there, and had a deputy in readmess to go down for 
her. But he has received no reply to his dispatch. As 
she was taken out on Wednesday night, there is reason 
to apprehend that she has already passed Louisville, 
and is now on her way to New Orleans, Why Mr. 
Gaines brought Margaret back at all, we cannot com- 
prehend. If it was to vindicate his character, he was 
most unfortunate in the means selected, for his duplic- 
ity has now placed this in a worse light than ever be- 
fore, and kept before the public the miserable spectacle 
of his dishonor.' " 

We have learned now, by experience, what is that 
boasted comity of Kentucky, on which Judge Leavitt 
so earnestly advises Ohio to rely. The assertion of the 
Louisville Journal that Margaret was kept in Covington 
jail " ten days," and that the Ohio authorities had been 
notified of the same, is pronounced to be untrue in both 
particulars, by the Cincinnati Gazette^ which paper also 
declares that prompt action was taken by the governor 
of Ohio, and the attorney and sheriff of Hamilton 
County, as soon as the fact was known. Here we must 
leave Margaret ; a noble woman indeed, whose heroic 
spirit and daring have won the willing, or extorted the 
unwilling, admiration of hundreds of thousands in the 
land of freedom. Alas for her ! After so terrible a 
struggle, so bloody a sacrifice, so near to deliverance, 
once, twice, and even a third time, to be, by thf 
villany and lying of her "respectable" white owner 



132 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

again engulfed in the abyss of slavery! What her 
fate is to be it is not hard to conjecture. But, friendless, 
heart-stricken, robbed of her children, outraged, she has 
been not wholly without friends, — 

" Yea, three firm friends, more sure than day and night, 
Herself, her Maker, and the Angel Death." * 

At the risk of too far extending the record of this 
most painful yet instructive case, we give the following 
eloquent extract from a sermon delivered in Cleveland, 
Ohio, by the Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., from the fol- 
lowing text : — 

"And it was so that all that saw it said. There was 
no such deed done nor seen from the day that the chil- 
dren of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto 
this day. Consider of it, take advice, and speak your 
minds. ^^ Judges xix. 30. 

"A few weeks ago, just at dawn of day, might be 
seen a company of strangers crossing the winter bridge 
over the Ohio River, from the State of Kentucky, into 
the great city of our own State, whose hundred church- 
spires pomt to heaven, telling the travellers that in this 
place the God of Abraham is worshipped, and that 
here Jesus the Messiah is known, and his religion of 
love taught and believed. And yet, no one asked them 
in, or offered them any hospitality or sympathy, or as- 
sistance. After wandermg from street to street, a poor 

* Let us rather think of Margaret as having safely reached New Orleans, and 
when, in the course of time the " Linkum gunboats," drove the chivalry from 
those shores, Margaret was among the first to welcome the unfolding of the Stars 
and Stripes over the rebellious laud; and, as events hastened on, the enrollment 
of her race begins, and we behold her, rejoicing in the day of freedom, and zeal- 
ous in every good work to aid the contraband soldier in his warlike toils. 



MATTERS OF FACT. 133 

laboring man gave tli^m the shelter of liis humble 
cabin, for they were strangers and in distress. Soon it 
was known abroad that this poor man had offered them 
the hospitalities of his home, and a rude and fero- 
cious rabble soon gathered around his dwelling, de- 
manding his guests. With loud clamor and horrid 
threatening, they broke down his doors, and rushed upon 
the strangers. They were an old man and his wife, 
their daughter and her husband, with four children ; 
and they were of the tribe of slaves, fleeuig from a 
bondage which was worse than death. There was now 
no escape, — the tribes of Israel had banded against 
them. On the side of the oppressor there is povfer. 
And the young wife and mother into whose very soul 
the iron had entered, hearing the cry of the master, 
' Now we'll have you all ! ' turning from the side of her 
husband and father with whom she had stood to repel 
the foe, seized a knife, and, with a single blow, nearly 
severed the head from the body of her darling daugh- 
ter, and thi^owing its bloody corpse at his feet, ex- 
claimed, ' Yes, you shall have us all ! take that ! ' and 
with another blow inflicted a ghastly wound upon the 
head of her beautiful son, repeating, 'Yes, you shall 
have us all ! take that ! ' meanwhile calling upon her old 
mother to help her in the quick work of emancipation, — 
for there were two more. But the pious old grand- 
mother could not do it, and it was now too late, — the 
rescuers had subdued and bound them. They were on 
their way back to the house of their bondage, -— a life 
more bitter than death ! — on their way through that city 
of churches, whose hundred spires told of Jesus and Lie 

12 



134 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LAI^E. 

good Father above ; on their way amid the tlirong of 
Christian men, whose noble sires had said and sung, 
' Give me liberty^ or give me death I ' 

" But they all tarried in the great Queen City of the 
West, — in chains, and in a felon's cell. There our 
preacher visited them again and again. There he saw 
the old grandfather and his aged companion, whose 
weary pilgrimage of ujirequited toil and tears was 
nearly at its end. And there stood the young father, 
and the heroic wife ' Margaret.' Said the preacher, 
' Margaret, why did you ]s:ill your child ? ' 'It was my 
own,' she said ; ' given me of God, to do the best a 
mother could in its belialf. I have done the best I could ! 
I would have done more and better for the rest ! I 
knew it was better for them to go home to God than 
back to slavery.' ' But why did you not trust in God, — 
why not wait and hope ? ' 'I did wait, and then we 
dared to do, but fled in fear and in hope. Hope fled, 
— God did not appear to save. I did the best I could ! ' 

''And who was this woman? A noble, womanly, 
amiable, affectionate mother. ' But was she not de- 
ranged ? ' Not at all, — calm, intelMgent, but resolute 
and determined. ' But was she not fiendish, or beside 
herself with passion ? ' No ; she was most tender and 
afiectionate, and all her passion was that of a inother's 
fondest love. ' I reasoned with her,' said the preacher; 
' tried to awaken a sense of guilt, and lead her to re- 
pentance and to Christ. But there was no remorse, no 
desire of pardon, no reception of Christ or his rehgion. 
To her it was a religion of slavery^ more cruel than 
death. And where had she lived ? where thus taught ? 



JVIATTERS OF FACT. 135 

Not dowii among the rice swamps of Georgia, or on the 
banks of Red River. No ; but withm sixteen miles of 
the Queen City of the West ! In a nominally Chris- 
tian family, — whose master was most liberal in support 
of the gospel, and whose mistress was a communicant 
at the Lord's table, and a professed follower of Christ ! 
Here, in this family, where slavery is found in its mild- 
est form, she had been kept in ignorance of God's will 
and Word, and learned to know that the mildest form 
of American slavery, at this day of Christian civiHza- 
tion and democratic liberty, was worse than death it- 
self. She had learned by an experience of many years 
that it was so bad, she had rather take the life of her 
own dearest child, without the hope of heaven for her- 
self, than IT should experience its unutterable agonies 
which were to be found in a Clmstian fannly. But 
here are her two little boys of eight and ten years of 
age. Taking the eldest boy by the hand, the preacher 
said to him kmdly and gently, — 

" ' Come here^ my boy. What is your name ? ' 

" ' Tom, sir.' 

" ' Yes, Thomas.' 

"'No, sir, Tom.' 

" ' Well, Tom, how old are you ? ' 

"'Three months.'' 

" 'And how old is your little brother ? ' 

" ' Six months^ sir.' 

" ' And have you no otlier name but Tom ? ' 

" ' No.' 

" ' What is your father's name ? ' • 

" ' Haven't got any.' 



136 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" ' Who made you, Tom ? ' 

" ' Nobody.' 

" ' Did you ever hear of Jesus Christ ? ' 

" ' No, sir.' 

"And this was slavery in its best estate. By and by 
the aged couple, and the young man and his wife, the 
remaining children, with the master, and the dead 
body of the little one, were escorted through the streets 
of the Queen City of the West, by a national guard 
of armed men, back to the great and chivalrous 
State of old Kentucky, and away to the shambles of 
the South, — back to a life-long servitude of hopeless 
despair. It was a long, sad, silent procession down to 
the banks of the Ohio ; and, as it passed, the death- 
knell of freedom tolled heavily. The sovereignty of 
Ohio trailed in the dust beneath the oppressor's foot, 
and the great confederacy of the tribes of modern Is- 
rael attended the funeral obsequies, and made ample 
provision for the necessary expenses ! 

" 'And it was so that all that saw said. There was no 
such deed done nor seen, from the day that the children 
of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this 
day. Consider of it, take advice, and speak your 
minds.'' " 



CHAPTER YIII, 



' After long storms and tetnpesta overflowne, 

The Sunne at length his joyous face doth cleare; 

So when as Fortune all her spight hath showne. 
Some blissful hours at last must needes apppeaie; 

Else should afflicted wights ofttiuies despeire.' 



HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL "PROCEEDS TO RA.- 
LEIGH FOR HIS FAMILY — IS SEIZED — HIS TRIAL — HONOR 
ABLE DISCHARGE — THE MOB, LIKE HOUNDS, PANT FOR HIS 
BLOOD — AN EVENTFUL NIGHT— TAR AND FEATHERS — THE 
HOME OF FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. 

THE reader may as well be assured here as at any 
other time, that the narrative here given to the 
public is a statement of matters of fact, either received 
from the lips of Mr. Lane himself, or from information 
possessed by the compiler by a residence in the South, 
or drawn from well-authenticated documents. Some- 
times conversations are introduced which were not In 
the exact language stated. An example of this kind 
the reader had in the last chapter. All the circum- 
stances of the attempt to kidnap took place as stated at 
the time and place. No fictitious names are given. 
Even the intelligent proprietor of the colored boarding- 
house in Baltimore, Mr. Butler, may be still living and 
pursuing his business. The only variation being in the 
class of facts introduced in the conversation at Butler's 
house, between Lunsford and his friends, on the evening 
of the day of their liberation from the hands of wicked 
men. . The statements there introduced are entirely re- 

12* 137 



138 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

liable ; so much so as to form valuable material for a 
future history of the iniquities of the iufamous law for 
the rendition of fugitive slaves. We call it infamous, 
because it was the means, while it could be enforced^ of 
sending many innocent human beings into the bondage 
of Southern slavery, who had as good a title to freedom 
as any of the citizens of Massachusetts. It was natural 
that Lunsford and his friends should recall the many 
instances of kidnapping that had come to their knowl- 
edge, although these might be different cases from those 
related. Lunsford had now fairly triumphed over the 
evil designs of the slave-catchers of Baltimore, and m 
doing so had made some friends upon whom he could 
rely in future, as he might be compelled to pass through 
the city frequently before he had completely rescued 
his family from slavery. Lunsford and his companion, 
Jones, passed on to Philadelphia, without further moles- 
tation. Here he delivered letters of introduction to 
several individuals, who listened with some interest to 
his statements. He made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Cauthen, the Philadelphia philanthropist, who had, by 
his personal efforts, but lately rescued three colored 
men who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. 
From this gentleman he learned that a very important 
meeting was to be held in New York, of sympatliy for 
several persons who had in a similar manner to the above 
escaped the " gins and traps " of the soulless slave- 
trader. As this meeting was to be held in a few days, 
he hastened on, leaving his friend Jones to care for 
himself by his own industry in Philadelphia. He found 
no difficulty in obtaining a hearing at this meeting, and 



HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. 139 

the assurance that he might rely -apon securing the pe- 
cuniary aid needed, by a little industry in his personal 
applications. With this assurance, he hastened back 
to Raleigh to make his appearance at the next session 
of the court, and to wind up his affairs, if possible, for 
his final departure from the State. It will be remem- 
bered that Lunsford had really only tiventy days to re- 
main in the State after the first notification, and yet he 
remained beyond that time, relying upon the influence 
of Mr. Battle and other friends. 

On reaching Raleigh, Lunsford consulted with his 
lawyer and the prosecuting attorney as to the course 
best to pursue. Their advice was that if he would 
leave the State, and pay the costs of the covrt, the case 
should be dropped, so that his bondsmen should not be 
involved. Lunsford, knowing the prejudice against 
him, concluded to stay as long as he could, settle up 
his affairs, and leave. He determined to make as ear- 
nest an appeal as he could to the friends of the colored 
man in the North, for assistance, and he had some hope 
that in this way he might be successful. 

He had now paid Mr. Smith six hundred and twenty 
dollars; he had a house and lot worth five hundred 
dollars, which he had agreed to take when the balance 
had been raised. Before leaving, Mr. Smith gave him 
a bill of sale of one of his children, Laura, in consid- 
eration of two hundred and fifty dollars already paid. 
This child he determined to take with him to the North. 
The costs of the court which he had to meet in the 
above case amounted to between thirty and forty dol- 
lars, which drew heavily upon his now contracted 



140 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

means. On the 18th of May, three days after the court 
commenced its session, he bade adieu to his friends in 
Ealeigh, and set out for the city of New York. Ho 
was furnished with several letters of introduction from 
friends in Raleigh, each speaking in high commenda- 
tion of his uprightness of conduct, and commending 
his case to the generous sympathy of others. One of 
them was from Mr. John Primrose, a highly respectable 
man ; one from Mr. Battle, which was of great service 
to him. He took also a letter from the church of which 
he was a member, together witl> such other papers as 
related to his affau's. He also received the following 

certificate : — 

"Raleigh, N. C, May, 1842. 

"The bearer, Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, for 
some time resident in this place, being about to leave 
North Carolina, in search of a more favorable location 
to pursue his trade, has desired us to give him a certifi- 
cate of his good conduct heretofore. We take pleasure 
in saying that his habits are temperate and industrious, 
that his conduct has been orderly and proper, and that 
he has for these qualities been distinguished among his 
caste, "William Hill, 

"Weston R. Gales, 

" C. L. HiNTON, 

"R. Smith, 
"C. Dewey." 
' He took good care to see that the above was officially 
certified to, in the usual form, by the clerk of the court 
of common pleas and quarter sessions. 

Thus fortified with documents, he proceeded to New 



HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. 141 

York. Although his success was at first small, he soon 
fell into the hands of tioo friends^ who generously of- 
fered to raise him three hundred dollars, provided he 
should first obtain from other sources the balance of 
the sum required, which balance wolild be one thousand 
and eighty dollars. Thus encouraged, he proceeded to 
Boston, where the intelligent and discriminating philan- 
thropy of the people, in a very brief space of time, en- 
abled him to reach the sum required. Lunsford not 
only expressed his thanks personally to these friends for 
their kindness, and th« many ways in which they aided 
him in introducing him to others, but on public occa- 
sions he has taken pleasure in bearing testimony to 
their kindness of heart toward the oppressed. If it 
were proper, and the limits of this publication would 
permit, he would gladly have their names recorded. 
'' On the 5th of February, finding that I should soon 
have in my possession the sum needed for the purchase 
of my family, and fearing that there might be danger 
in visiting Raleigh for that purpose, in consequence of 
the strong opposition of many of the citizens against 
free persons of color, and especially as they had already 
evinced their opposition to me in persecuting me from 
the city, I wrote to Mr. Smith, requesting him to see 
the governor, and obtain, under his hand, a permit to 
visit the State for a sufficient time to accomplish tlie 
business. I requested Mr. Smith to publish the permit 
in one or two of the city papers, and then to enclose the 
original to me. To this letter he replied in a week or 
ten days after its reception. It was as follows : — 
'"Lunsford: Your letter of the 5th instant came 



142 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, 

duly to hand, and in reply I have to inform you that, 
owing to the absence of Governor Morehead, I cannot 
send yon the permit you requested ; but this will make 
no difference, for you can come home, and after your 
arrival you can obtain one to remain long enough to 
settle up your affairs. You ought of course to apply 
to the governor immediately on your arrival, before any 
malicious person would have time to inform against you. 
I don't think by pursuing this course you need apprehend 
any danger We are all alive at present, in Ra- 
leigh, on the subjects of temperance and religion. We 
have taken into the temperance societies about five 
hundred members, and about fifty persons have been 
happily converted. . . . The work seems still to be 
spreading, and such a time I have never before seen 
in my life. Glorious times, truly ! So try to get all 
the religion in your heart you possibly can, for it is the 
only thing worth having, after all. 

"'Yours, &c., 

"'B. B. ^MITH.'" 

The date of this letter is in February, 1842, at which 
time the Washingtonian Reformation was making great 
advances in the United States, rescuing thousands from 
their thraldom to this insidious and ruinous vice. The 
reader is referred, for fuller particulars, to the history 
of this reform as recorded in the life and labors of 
John H. W. Hawkins, who, it will be seen, in a year or 
two after, made a tour through all the Southern States. 
By his faithful labors thousands were saved from the 
drunkard's miserable doom. His labors in Raleigh 
were attended with his usual success. But to return 



HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. 143 

to Limsford. The way now seemed, in a measure, 
opened for his safe return. Certainly, he argued, that, 
in a community ajl alive to the subject of religion and 
temperance, where he had lived and labored faithfully 
in '• that state of life into which it had pleased God to 
call him," he ought to expect kind treatment, and re- 
ceive protection from the designs of evil men. Still 
feehng some distrust as to the assurances of Mr. Smith, 
his wife's master, who might, after all, have a pecuniary 
interest in his speedy return to Raleigh, he hesitated 
to leave without a written permit from the governor. 
Desiring, therefore, to use every precaution, he ad- 
dressed another letter to Mr. Smith, and received, 
under date of March 12th, a reply, from which we 
copy the following: — "The governor has just re- 
turned, and I called upon him to get the permit, as you 
requested, but he said he had no authority by law to 
grant one ; and he told me to say .to you that you might 
in perfect safety come home, in a quiet manner, and re- 
main twenty days without being interrupted. I also 
consulted Mr. Manly (a lawyer), and he told me the 

same thing Surely you need not fear anything 

under these circumstances. You had, therefore, better 
come on just as soon as possible. ^^ 

The life of Lunsford had been so checkered and un- 
certain thus far, that he felt, even now, some distrust as 
to his future reception in Raleigh. He determined, 
therefore, to conduct himself with all the discreetness 
possible, and refrain from doing anything that might 
excite the jealousy even of the poor white man. So 
little is done at the South to elevate this class that it 



144 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

sometimes happens that slaves owned by wealthy and 
intelligent masters far surpass them in learning and re- 
finement of manners. Instead of discharging their 
hate and resentment against the institution that has 
inflicted these grievous evils, they content themselves 
with ill-bred and brutal assaults upon the unoffending 
negro, who rises in spite of his chains. Nothing but 
the storm and tempest of revolution, where the sword 
is called upon to arbitrate, can break the delusion and 
clear our moral heavens from these prejudices against 
color. In the season of adversity the people learn wis- 
dom. " On the 11th of April I felt happy ; it was the 
noon-time of my varied life ; I had raised the amount 
requisite for the deliverance of my wife and children. 
I remembered well the day of my own emancipation, 
and I ceased not to rejoice in my freedom. I could al- 
most anticipate the feehngs of my wife and the dear 
ones God had given me, their feet at length pressing 
the free soil of Massachusetts, and I and they offering 
up to God the incense of grateful hearts. In my inmost 
soul I felt that I was undeserving of favors so great. I 
could trace his hand in every event of my past life. 
He had not forsaken me, and I even now reproached 
myself for any tendency in my heart to distrust him in 
the future. For myself I could only say, — 

• ' 'Tis vain ; my tongue cannot impart 

My almost drunkenness of heart, 
When first this liberated eye 
Surveyed earth, ocean, sun, and sky 
As if my spirit pierced them through, 
And all their inmost wonders knew ! 



PROCEEDS TO RALEIGH FOR HIS FAMILY. 145 

One word alone can paint to thee 

I was free ! 



The world, — nay, heaven itself, — was mine ! ' 

" With these high hopes, I left Boston on my way to 
Raleigh, intending to pay over the money for my family 
and return with them to Boston, which I designed should 
be my future home. There I had found friends, and there 
I was willing to labor, and there I would find a grave. I 
was now about to visit my old home in the South for 
the last time, and little did I dream that I should be 
thrust rudely from its portals. Certainly, I thought, the 
assurance received from the governor, who knew me 
well, through Mr. Smith, was sufficient to protect me 
in this last visit to the place of my birth and boyhood, 
where I had toiled as a slave and a freeman, and, 
finally, as waiter upon the governors of the coimiion- 
wealth. I had faithfully discharged my duties ; I 
thought I had deserved their respect. With these 
thoughts, and the bright anticipation of again joining 
my family, I departed for Raleigh, passing through Bal- 
timore, — on this occasion without molestation. I ar- 
rived in Raleigh on the twenty-third of the month. It 
was Saturday, about four o'clock in the afternoon, upon 
a pleasant day in April, when I once more found myself 
in the midst of my family. They were anxiously look- 
ing for me, and yet they hardly dared to hope for their 
ultimate freedom. It was sweet to spend the hours of 
that quiet Sabbath with them, after so long an absence, 
— an absence filled with so much of interest to me and 
to them. I had been in ' perils by mine own country- 
is 



146 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

men,' and out of them all the Lord had delivered me. 
My family were still where I could reach them, and 
perhaps save them from a life of servitude. Although 
there were a thousand things that I wished to say re- 
specting my Northern visit, I dared not utter them even 
to my wife. I therefore kept quiet and humbled my- 
self. I mused in my own heart and was still. My bus- 
iness being delayed until the beginning of the week, I 
was making ready on Monday morning early to com- 
plete the business of the purchase of my family. I was 
about starting for Mr. Smith's store, where it had 
been arranged I should meet him, when, between 
eight and nine o'clock, two constables entered, — Mur- 
ray and Scott, — accompanied by two other men, and 
summoned me to appear immediately before the police. 
I accordingly accompanied them to the City Hall ; but, 
in their eagerness to crush me, they had arrested me 
too early in the day for the tardy magistrates and their 
attendants ; the hall was locked^ and the officers could 
not, at the moment, find the key. We were told that 
the court would be held at the store of Mr. Smith, a 
large and commodious room. This is what is termed 
in common phrase in Raleigh, and I had heard the 
term used by members of the Legislature, a ' call court.' 
The mayor, Mr. Loring, presided, assisted by William 
Boyden and Jonathan Busby, Esqs., justices of the 
peace. A large number of people had gathered, and I 
immediately found myself the centre of considerable 
interest ; there were more, indeed, than could obtain 
admission to the room, and a large crowd of turbulent 
spirits gathered about the door, thirsting for my blood. 



IS SEIZED — HIS TRIAL. 147 

Mr. Loring read the writ, setting forth that I had been 
guilty of delivering' abolition lectures in the State of 
Massachusetts. 

" He asked me whether I was guilty or not guilty. 
Retaining my self-possession, I replied that I did not 
know whether I had given abolition lectures or not ; but 
if it pleased the Court, I would relate the course I had 
pursued during my absence from Raleigh. He then said 
I was at liberty to speak for myself. ' The circumstances 
under which I left Raleigh,' I said, ' are perfectly familiar 
to you all. It is well known that I had no desire to re- 
move from this city, but resorted to every lawful means 
to remain, while in pursuit of an honest calling. Find- 
ing that I could not be permitted to stay, I went away, 
leaving behind everything I held dear, with the excep- 
tion of one child whom I took with me, after paying 
two hundred and fifty dollars for her. You are well 
aware that previous to this I was a slave, the property 
of . Mr. Sherwood Haywood, and after, many years of 
faithful labor purchased my freedom by paying tlio 
sum of one thousand dollars. It is also known to you, 
and to many other persons here present, tliat I had 
engaged to purchase my wife and children of their 
master, Mr. Smith, for the sum of twenty-five hundred 
dollars, and that I had paid of this sum, including my 
house and lot, eleven hundred and twenty dollars, leav- 
ing a balance to be made up of thirteen hundred and 
eighty dollars. I could have made up this amount, had 
I been permitted to remain here. But, being driven 
away for no crime of which I am conscious, no longer 
permitted to raise the balance due for the liberation of 



lis ' MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

my family, my last resort was to call upon the friends 
of humanity in other places to assist me. I went to 
the city- of Boston, and there I related the story of my 
persecutions here, in the same manner that I now state 
them to you. The people gave a patient hearing to my 
statements, and one of them, the Rev. Dr. Neale, 
vv^rote to Raleigh, unknown to me, to Mr. Smith, inquir- 
ing of him whether the statements made by me were 
correct. After Dr. Neale received Mr. Smith's reply, 
he sent for me, informed me of his having written and 
read to me this reply. The letter fully satisfied Dr. 
Neale and his friends. He placed it in my hands, re- 
marking that it would in a great measure do away the 
necessity of using the other documents in my posses- 
sion. I then, with that letter in my hands, went from 
house to house, calling upon persons at their places 
of business, going from church to church, relating, 
whenever I could gain an ear, the same sad story 
of my wrongs to which I am now referring you. In 
pursuing that course, the kind people generously came 
forward and contributed, the poor as well as the rich, 
until I had succeeded in raising the whole amount, 
namely, thirteen hundred and eighty dollars. I may 
have had contributions from abolitionists ; but I did not 
stop to ask those who assisted me whether they were 
anti-slavery or pro-slavery. I was too thankful to get 
the money, and it was immaterial whence it came if it 
would only accomplish the object I had in view. These 
arc the simple facts as to the manner of my proceeding 
in the Northern States ; and now, sir, I humbly ask 
whether such a course can be construed into the charge 



HIS TRIAL. 149 

made against me, — that I have been giving abohtion 
lectures ? ' 

"In the course of these remarks, I presented the letter 
of Mr. Smith to the Rev. Dr. Neale, of Boston, showing 
that I had acted the open and honest part while in Mas- 
sachusetts. I also referred to my having written to 
Mr. Smith, requesting him to obtain for me the permit 
of the governor ; and I showed the court Mr. Smith's 
letters in reply, in order to satisfy them that I had the 
promise of the governor, that I should be unmolested in 
Raleigh, until I liad time to settle up my business and 
return to the North. Mr. Loring then whispered to 
some of the leading men ; after wdiich, he remarked 
that he saw nothing in what I had done, according to 
my own statement, implicating me in a manner worthy 
of notice. He then called upon any person present, 
who might be in possession of information tending to 
disprove what 1 had said, or to show any wrong on my 
part, to produce it ; otherwise, I should be set at liberty. 
No person responding to his remarks, I was thereupon 
discharged. I was starting to leave the house, and had 
nearly reached the door, when I was met by Mr. James 
Litchfield, who touched me upon the shoulder, and I 
followed him into the back part of the store. He has- 
tily informed me, from what he knew of the temper 
of the mob outside, that, if I went out of that room, in 
less than five minutes I would be a dead man. They 
were waiting, he said, like hounds, to drink my blood. 
Mr. Loring, who I think was really a friend, but pow- 
erless in this instance to render me any assistance, spoke 
to me again, and said, notwithstanding I had been 

13* 



150 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

found guilty of breaking no law, yet public opinion was 
law; and he advised me to leave the place the next 
day; otherwise, he was convinced I should have to 
suffer death. I replied, '- not to-morrow, but to-day.' 
He answered that I could not go that day, as I had not 
yet accomplished the object of my return. I said I was 
v/illing to trust my business in his hands and to several 
other gentlemen like himself, assured that they would 
not see me wronged. I mentioned several names, sug- 
gesting that they could settle matters for me with Mr. 
Smith, pay over my money, and send my family to meet 
me in Philadelphia. This was finally concluded upon, 
and a guard was appointed to conduct me to the depot. 
I had succeeded in reaching a seat in the cars, when the 
mob that had followed surrounded me, and declared that 
the cars should not go, and that I should not be permit- 
ted to go in them. Mr. Loring, fearing the worst, came 
along into the cars, and inquired of the mob what they 
wanted of me. He said to them that there had been a 
fair examination, and nothing had been found against 
me ; that they were present at the investigation, and in- 
vited to speak if they knew any reason why I should be 
condemned ; but that they had remained silent^ and that 
now it was but right that I should be permitted to de- 
part unmolested. They replied that they wanted a more 
thorough investigation ; that they wished to search my 
trunks (I had but one) and see if I was not in the pos- 
session of abolition papers. This species of evidence is 
all-powerful with the Southern rabble. When all other 
proofs fail, a scrap of paper bearing this stamp, wrapped 
about a pair of old shoes, has proved the death-warrant 



THE MOB PANT FOR HIS BLOOD. 151 

to many unsuspecting travellers in the Southern domin- 
ions ! It had now become evident from the temper of 
the crowd, that I would not be allowed to leave in the 
cars, and my friends advised me, as a means of safety, 
to go the shortest way possible to jail ! The mob ap- 
peared terribly enraged, and seemed to thirst for my 
]:5lood. The whole city, indeed, was in an uproar. But 
I found my friends were among the most respectable 
and wealthy men in the place ; and I have no doubt 
these few did all in their power to protect me. Mr. 
Boylan, whose name has frequently been mentioned in 
the conrse of the narrative, acted toward me the part 
of a father. Mr. Smith and Mr. Loring, and many 
other gentlemen, whose names it would be a pleasure 
to mention, were exceedingly kmd to me, and felt no 
other feelings than indignation toward my senseless per- 
secutors. 

" The guard then conducted me through the mob to 
the prison. I felt joyful that even a prison could now 
protect me from these villains in human form. 

" Looking from my prison-window, I could see my 
trunk in the hands of officers Johnson, Scott, and 
others, who were taking it to the City Hall for exami- 
nation. I learned afterward that they broke open my 
trunk, and as the lid flew up, the mob cried out, ' A 
paper, a paper ! ' A number seized it at once, as hun- 
gry hounds after a pantmg fugitive in the Southern 
swamps. They set up a yell of wild delight, and one 
young man of profligate character, a son of one of the 
most respectable families in the place, glanced toward 
my prison-window, and by signs and words expressed 



152 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

his gratification. But their triumph was but for a 
mouient. The paper was unrolled, and it was found to 
be one printed in Raleigh, and edited by Weston R. 
Gales, a very nice man, it is true, but one far from 
being suspected of holding abolition sentiments. The 
only other printed or written thing found in the trunk 
were some business cards of a firm in Raleigh, which 
had been handed me for distribution ; but these were 
not considered incendiary ! Shortly afterward I saw 
Messrs Scott and Johnson lugging my carpet-bag in the 
same direction my trunk had gone. This also was 
opened at the City Hall, and found actually to contain 
a pair of old shoes and a pair of old boots ; but they 
did not pronounce these incendiary. Mr. Smith at 
length came to the prison and informed me that the 
examination had been completed ; and, although nothing 
had been found against me, it would not be safe for me 
to leave the prison immediately. It was thought best 
that I should remain in prison until after nightfall, and 
then steal secretly away, being let out by the keeper, 
and pass unnoticed to the house of my old and tried 
friend, Mr. Boylan. Accordingly, between nine and ten 
o'clock I was discharged. I went by a back way leading 
to Mr. Boylan' s residence. But I had hardly started on 
my perilous journey, when suddenly a large company of 
men sprang upon me, and before I had time to make 
any resistance, I found myself completely in their 
possession. They conducted me rudely, at times above 
the ground, and sometimes I was dragged along ; but 
they moved as silently as possible in the direction of the 
gallows, which, at the time I am now speaking of, was 



AN EVENTFUL NIGHT. 153 

always kept standing upon the common, or, as it was 
termed, ' the Pine,' or the ' Old Pme Field.' 

'' I now expected to be hurried suddenly into the world 
of spirits. I endeavored to calm myself as much as I 
could in that awful hour. I thought of that unseen 
region to which I was hastening. Now, I thought, I was 
to test the value of that religion which I had professed 
before men. I felt that I could trust in the great re- 
demption, which had been secured for me, and for all 
men, in the death of my Saviour. He had suffered a 
violent death for me, and should I shrink from meeting 
him now ? And yet when my mind reverted to the 
world and to my dear family, I dreaded to leave them. 
What would become of my wife and children, after all 
the labor I had made to redeem them from bondage ? 
Although I had secured money sufficient to pay for 
them, according to the agreement made, it seemed inev- 
itable, should I leave them, that some unfeeling white 
man would obtain it, and they be left to die in slavery, 
and the effort of a large part of my life spent in vain. 
Then the thought of my own death would again rush 
into my mind, and I was overwhelmed in the solemn 
contemplations of eternity. I tried to pray. ' God,' 
I cried in my inmost soul, ' deliver me from the hands 
of these wicked men ! ' At length I observed that those 
who were carrying me changed their course a little 
from a direct line to the gallows. A hope, a faint glim- 
mering sprang up within ; luit then, as they were taking 
me to the woods, I thought their intention was to mur- 
der me there. In such a place they would be less 
likely to be interrupted than in a spot so exposed as the 



154 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, 

field upon which the gallows stood. Having conducted 
me to a little elevation covered with wood, they set me 
down. 

" ' Now,' said they ' we want you to tell us the truth 
about those abolition lectures you have been giving at 
the North.' 

" I thought I detected in the tone and manner of 
this demand that they were not quite up to the des- 
perate courage of taking my life. And yet I replied 
as if death was in view. I said that I had related 
truthfully the circumstances l^efore the court in the 
morning, and I could only repeat to them what I then 
said. 

" ' But that was not the truth. Now tell us the 
truth ! ' 

" I replied that any different story would be false, and 
and if I must then die, and whatever they might think 
I would say in other circumstances, I would not pass 
into the other world with a lie upon my lips. One of 
them said, — 

a i ^ell, Lunsford, you were always, when you were 
here, considered a clever fellow, and I did not think 
you would be engaged in the mean business of making 
abolition addresses at the North.' 

" Several others made similar remarks in a sort of 
apology for not resorting to extreme measures with me. 
I replied to them that the people of Raleigh had always 
maintained that the abolitionists did not believe in ex- 
pending much money in buying slaves ; but contended 
fthat their masters should free them without pay. For 
myself, my simple object was the purchase of my fam- 



TAR AND FEATHERS. 155 

ily, and I had labored to do so, without considering the 
character or the opinions of the persons I approached. 
I had no time to enter into any league with abolitionists, 
and from my past conduct they certainly could not sup- 
pose that I would. After this and other conversation 
of a like kind, they became tired of questioning me. 
They at length had a consultation in a low whisper 
among themselves. Then a bucket was brought, and 
set down by my side ; but what its contents, or for what 
object intended, I was unable to divine. But, in a mo- 
ment, one of the number came forward with a pillow, 
and instantly a great weight was lifted from my mind. 
A flood of light and even joy sprang up within me. I 
felt now the crisis in this eventful night's experience had 
passed. They commenced stripping me, until every rag 
of clothes was removed. Then the bucket was brought 
near, and I felt relieved when I found it contained tar. 
One man whom I knew to be a journeyman printer of 
the place was the first to dip his hands into the tar, 
and was about passing them over my face. Mr. Wil- 
liam Andres, of Raleigh, may wish to see his name in 
print, and so I record it. Burns, a blacksmith in the 
place, arrested his arm, saying, — 

" ' Don't put any in his face and eyes.' 

" He thereupon desisted. But he, with three other 
' chivalrous gentlemen,' whose names I cannot recall, 
gave me, what I suppose they were gratified to behold, 
— a complete coat of tar, sparing only my face. Then 
ripping open the pillow at one end, they held it over 
my head and commenced applying its contents to the 
tarred portions of my body. I have no doubt I was 



153 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

well tarred and feathered, affording to these well-bred 
gentlemen another means for the exhibition of ' South- 
ern sports.' A fine escape, thought I, from hanging, 
provided they do not set fire to the feathers. I had 
some fear they would. 

" These dignified labors having been completed, they 
gave me my clothes, and one of them, to my surprise, 
handed me my watch, which he had carefully kept in 
his hands. 

" They all expressed great interest in my welfare, 
advised me to proceed with my business the next day, 
told me to stay in the place as long as I chose, and, 
with words of like consolation, bade me good-night ! 
They felt that they -had now degraded me to a level 
beneath themselves. Of course I hastened to my fam- 
ily as soon as possible. They had become greatly 
alarmed for my safety. They were relieved at my pres- 
ence, but somewhat distressed at the sad plight I pre- 
sented. Shall I say it ? Some of the persons who had 
participated in this outrage came into my house, influ- 
enced, probably, by a curiosity to witness the mode of 
removing a coat of tar and feathers. They were now 
lavish with their words of sympathy for me ; they even 
regretted that the affair had taken place ; that they had 
no objection to my living in Raleigh, or I might feel 
perfectly safe in going out to transact my business, pre- 
paratory to leaving ; I should not be molested. Mean- 
while, Mr. Boylan and other friends, understanding 
that I had been discharged from prison and find- 
ing that I did not come to them accordhig to agree- 
ment, became alarmed, and had commenced a regular 



LEAVES FOR THE NORTH. 157 

search for me, on foot and on horseback. They ex- 
plored the suburbs, and everywhere they supposed I 
might be. Hearmg that I was in the hands of a mob, 
Mr. Smith called upon the governor to obtain his offi- 
cial interference. Shortly after my return, a guard 
came to my house, but I chose not to risk myself, even 
in my own home. I therefore went to Mr. Smith's, 
where this guard kept me safely until morning. They 
seemed friendly, — indeed, many of them being among 
the best citizens in town. My friend, Mr. Battle, the 
late private secretary to Governor Morehead, was 
one of them. He made an address to them, setting 
forth some incidents in my past life, the good conduct 
I had always exhibited, my services in connection with 
the governor's office, and the faithful manner with 
which I had discharged my duties there. In the morn- 
ing, Mr. Boylan, true as ever in his friendship, and with 
great kindness of heart, assisted me in arranging my 
business, so that I might start with my family that day 
for the North. Leaving in this hurried manner, I was 
compelled to sacrifice much of my property. While at 
the North, some malicious persons had removed from 
the wood-lot all the wood that I had cut and corded, 
for which I expected to receive over one hundred dol- 
lars, thus relieving me of the trouble of its sale, or of 
being burdened with its care. I was compelled to sub- 
mit to many other pecuniary losses, but these I was 
content to count as nothing, compared with the bless- 
ing of our liberation. 

" In our preparation for departure, Mr. Boylan fur- 
nished us with provisions more than sufficient to ?us- 

14 



158 MEMOIR OP LUNSPORD LANE. 

tain the family to Philadelphia. Here we intended to 
abide for a time. He. even sent his wagon to convey 
our baggage to the depot, offering also to send his car- 
riage for my family, but another friend, Mr. Malone, 
had been before him in this kind offer, which I had 
agreed to accept. 

" The emotions experienced at the moment of parting 
from my friends almost unmanned me, and I cried like 
a child. My poor mother was still alive, and the slave 
of my former mistress, Mrs. Haywood. The cars were 
to start at ten o'clock in the morning, and I called as 
early as I could on Mrs. Haywood, where my mother, 
now advanced in years, was staying. My old mistress 
was affected to tears, as her mind reverted to the past, 
— my faithfulness to her and to her children, my strug- 
gles and persecutions. In late years she had been kind 
to me, and, as I then learned, she and her daughter, 
Mrs. Hogg, then present at her house, had sent a note 
to the court before which I was tried, representing that, 
in consequence of my good conduct from my youth up, 
they could not believe me to be guilty of any offence. 
And now, with an attachment for me they could not re- 
press, and with tears, — the offspring, as I believe, of 
genuine sympathy, — they gave me their parting blessing. 
My mother was now called in, that I might bid her a 
final farewell. I was her only child, and I had no hope 
of seeing her again in this world. Our old mistress 
could not witness this scene of our parting unmoved. 
Unable to repress her feelings longer, she decided, to 
my infinite joy, that my mother should go with me. 
' Take her, Lunsford, and care for her as I know you 



THE HOME OF FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. 159 

will as a dutiful son. Should you ever become able to 
pay me two hundred dollars, you may ; otherwise it 
shall be my loss.' The following paper was immediately 
drawn up ; it is in the ordinary form of a pass : — 

'Raleigh, N. C, April 26, . 

' Kjiow all persons by these presents, That the bearer 
of this, Clarissa, a slave, belonging to me, hath my per- 
mission to visit the city of New York with her relations, 
who are in company witli her ; and it is my desire that 
she may be protected, and permitted to pass without 
molestation or hindrance, on good behavior. 

' Witness my hand, this 26th day of April. 

^Eleanor Haywood. 
'Witness, — J. A. Campbell.' 

"Leaving Mrs. Haywood's, I called upon Mrs. Badger, 
another daughter, and wife of Judge Badger, already 
mentioned. She seemed equally affected, and wept as 
she gave me her parting counsel. She and her sister, 
Mrs. Hogg, and I were once children together, engaging 
in the same sports, in the ample play-ground around the 
old mansion. We knew then but little of the different 
conditions of our birth ; not then had we learned that 
they were of a superior and I of a subject race. In 
those days of childhood there were pencillings made 
upon our young hearts which time and opposite futures 
could not all efface. I trust these dear friends may 
never be slaves as I have been ; nor their bosom com- 
panions and t]ieir little ones be in bondage like mine. 
The hour was now rapidly arriving when the cars were 
to start. The whole town seemed to be gathered at the 



160 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

depot, and, among the rest, those turbulent spirits wlio, 
unsatisfied with the indignities they had already heaped 
upon me, appeared determined that my final departure 
should not be peaceable. Apprehending this, Mr. Boy- 
Ian and others had arranged with my friends and the 
conductor that my family should be put in the cars, 
and that I should go out of the city by some secluded 
street, and, having gone a mile or two, pass over to the 
track and be taken up as they passed. The mob, sup- 
posing that I was left behind, at length permitted the 
cars to depart. Mr. Whiting, one of the agents of the 
road, kindly aided us in the purchase of our tickets, and 
protected us from being molested, as far as Petersburg, 
whither he was going. On his leaving. Captain Guion, 
of Raleigh, performed the same kind office as far as 
Alexandria. Here we were placed in the care of a cit- 
izen of Philadelphia, who protected us quite out of the 
confines of slavery into the land of freedom. The mal- 
ice of my enemies did not cease upon my entering the 
cars upon the road out of Raleigh. Kirkham, a tin- 
ware worker, whom I identified as being one of the 
mob, I found was a fellow-passenger, and at every sta- 
tion at which the cars stopped he would rush out and 
endeavor to excite the people at the station to drag me 
from the cars, and in violent language denounce me 
as an instigator of insurrection and a negro abolitionist 
from the North. My friends, however, were more influ- 
ential than this excitable individual, and we passed on 
unharmed. 

" We had only one misfortune, and that was the los- 
ing of a trunk containing most of our valuable cloth- 



THE HOME OF FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. 161 

ing. This we have never been able to recover, but our 
lives are spared to rejoice in our freedom. When my 
feet pressed the pavements of Philadelphia, with my 
family around me, consisting of nine dependent beings, 
with my money nearly expended, and with nothing to 
depend upon but my two hands, I still felt happy ; I 
felt as though I was in a new world. I could now draw 
a long breath, and inhale, without let or hindrance, the 
pure atmosphere of freedom." 

14* 



CHAPTER IX, 

" If we have whispered truth, 

Whisper no longer; 
Speak as the tempest does. 

Sterner and stronger; 
Still be the tones of truth 

Louder and firmer, 
Startling the haughty South 

With the deep murmur: 
God and our charter's right, 

Freedom forever! 
Truce with oppression,— 

Never I oh, never I " 



MR. SMITH'S PECUNIARY ENGAGEMENTS — VARIOUS INCIDENTS 
IN A SOUTHERN PASTOR'S LIFE— SHOOTING A SLAVE — A SAD 
FUNERAL— THE PLANTATION NEAR TARBORO'— UVIPROVIDENCE 
OF SLAVES— CLOSE OF LUNS FORD'S LIFE IN THE SOUTH. 

THE incidents of the last chapter are so closely con- 
nected with the well-being of Lunsford that sev- 
eral individuals alluded to in this narrative deserve a 
further notice. Mr. Smith had, no doubt, some inter- 
est — a pecuniary one — in Lunsford' s safety. Should 
the mob unfortunately make way with him, it would be 
an unpleasant matter to dispose of the thirteen hundred 
dollars brought from the North. It would be inhuman- 
ity to send a widow and seven orphan children to the 
North, inexperienced as they were, to gain a living, 
with all the prejudices against th^ir color. Pondering 
upon these things, Mr. Smith felt very uneasy until he 
found Lunsford under a safe guard in his own house. 

He was much in need of fimds, and had rendered 
Lunsford all the aid in his power by writing complimen- 

162 



MR. smith's pecuniary ENGAGEMENTS. 1G3 

tary letters to the friends of the slave in Boston, con- 
firming his statements, and urging the humane people 
to give liberally of their means. Lunsford had at 
length procured the needed funds, but was unwilling to 
transmit the money, fearing that his family might, un- 
der some pretext, be still retained in bondage. Now, 
that Mr. Smith really needed this money, is a fact quite 
apparent in the last note he addressed to Lunsford. It 
is as follows : — 

" Raleigh, December 2d. 
"Lunsford Lane, — 

"Dear Sir: I wrote you some time ago, but have 
received no answer; perhaps you did not receive my 
letter. If so, you are excusable for not replying. In 
yours, of September last, you stated that in some short 
time, provided I would write to certain gentlemen in 
Boston, confirming statements you had made to them 
in reference to yourself, your family, and the object of 
your visit to Boston, you would send me one thousand 
dollars or upwards. I did write, as you requested, and 
confirmed in substance all that you had said to them ; 
but I have not had a line either from yourself or those 
gentlemen since. Upon the statement made by you I 
ventured to make some moneyed engagements, in com- 
plying with which I should dislike exceedingly to fail. 
These will be due in fifteen or twenty days, and if you 
possibly can by that time send me a check on New York 
for eight hundred or one thousand dollars, I shall be 
much relieved. 

" Wishing you every success, 

"Yours, &c., 

"B. B. Smith." 



1G4 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Now, Lunsford had no intention of sending this 
money by mail, and trusting to some good fortune about 
the return, as an equivalent, his wife and seven chil- 
dren. He determined to see them himself, and safely 
transfer them to the land of freedom, and obtain as le- 
gal a transfer of their freedom into his hands as the 
law would permit. This he accomplished, but not with- 
out great trial and the hazard of his life. One other 
gentleman, of a very different character, remains to be 
more fully noticed. Among the citizens in town who 
felt great indignation at the treatment of Lunsford, and 
the outrageous conduct of the mob, was the Rev. Dr. 
Heath. He frequently conferred with Lunsford, at this 
and at other times. As he moved about his parish, and 
became more and more acquainted with its concealed 
iniquities, with the private life of the slave upon the 
plantation, the greater became his abhorrence of the 
system. 

His hints, which were sometimes not the mildest, to 
his slave-holding flock, at length bred dissatisfaction, 
and though they dared not make this a ground for his 
dismissal, they did not hesitate to indicate their dissat- 
isfaction in various ways. He determined at length to 
remove from the South, and take a parish in the Free 
States, where his conscience would be untrammelled, 
and where he could discharge his whole duty as a Chris- 
tian minister. To this end, he sent in his resignation 
some time before Lunsford's first visit to the North, and 
was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Lacy. 

Lunsford would sometimes act as driver for Dr. 
Heath when making parochial calls upon his parishion- 



INCIDENTS IN A SOUTHERN PASTOR's LIFE. 165 

ers on the plantations, at times when his own servant 
was otherwise occupied, or when absent. At one time 
they had gone some distance from Raleigh, making final 
calls upon his more distant people previous to his going 
North. On this occasion he was accompanied by Dr. 
Davidson, one of the physicians attending his church, 
and as they were passing rapidly along the road, a slave 
overtook them, riding with great speed on horseback, 
in his haste waiting neither for saddle nor bridle, guiding 
the horse by his halter only. " Massa Davidson, '** said 
the negTO, almost out of breath, " massa wants you to 
come back to de house as soon as you can ; one ob de 
servants hab got shot ! " " We Imew," said Lunsford 
to the writer, " whence the slave had come, and we has- 
tened to ascertain the disaster. The plantation was an 
extensive one, employing a large number of slaves. The 
young master, who had now the charge, had but lately 
come into its possession, his father having recently died. 
There were various opinions about his fitness to manage, 
successfully, so large an estate, and we were curious to 
get an insighf into his mode of operations. On arriv- 
ing, we were conducted through the wide hall, passing 
through the centre of the ample mansion, into the or- 
chard beyond. Here, drawn up in an old ox-cart under 
the shade of the trees, lay a poor negro in the agonies 
of death, the blood oozing from his wounds and trick- 
ling from the tail of the cart. ' Examine him, doctor,' 
said the young planter, ' and see if you can save him.' 
lie had received the contents of the two barrels of a 
gun, heavily charged with buck-shot, through the thick 
portions of his thighs. The doctor felt his pulse, and, 



166 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

taking his penlmife, ripped open the coarse, tow pants. 
He immediately understood the condition of the patient, 
and replied that the man could not live till morning; he 
was so reduced from loss of blood that it would be im- 
possible for him to sustain the suppuration already be- 
gun. After being shot, he had been brought in a rough 
cart from a corn-crib, more than a mile distant, near the 
overseer's house. Had he been left there, some hope 
of saving him might have been entertained. We learned 
afterward that the negro died before morning. The 
young planter then gave us a brief account of the cir- 
cumstances leading to the casualty. It seems the ne- 
gro, John, had but lately been permitted to take a wife, 
living upon a plantation some six miles or more distant. 
This distance he was compelled to travel after the day's 
toil was ended, and he must return in the morning in 
time to enter the field with the other slaves. The hour 
for commencing labor was early at this season, it being 
August, and the overseer was exceeding rigid in having 
the rules obeyed. That morning the man was some half- 
hour, or more, behind time. The overseer had just re- 
covered from a fever, and not feehng in the best humor, 
pounced upon poor John for his first victim, intending 
to set an example, that would in future suppress any 
insubordination. He called John to his house, and de- 
manded the cause of his absence. He replied that he 
had been to see his wife, and had walked six miles that 
morning, but had miscalculated the time. ' I will teach 
you better next time,' and, raising his hand, aimed a 
blow at the slave's head. The man threw up his arm 
to defend himself, hut with no design of assault. ' Will 



SHOOTING A SLAVE. 167 

you dare resist ? ' said he, and, calling for assistance, 
he tied the man securely and placed him upon the floor 
of the corn-crib ; then, going to his house, he took his 
double-barrelled gun and discharged the contents into 
the thigh of the slave as he lay bound upon the floor ! 
The simple loss^ in this case, was a young and valuable 
slave, worth one thousand dollars in the market. The 
advantage was good discipline secured upon the planta- 
tion." Lunsford inq aired particularly about the treat- 
ment of the overseer. He was allowed to go unmo- 
lested, no notice whatever being taken of the outrage 
by the civil authorities. Dr. Heath frequently spoke 
of this instance, among others, of the barbarism of sla- 
very, and he determined, once and forever, to remove 
from its cruel domain. 

On another occasion he was solicited by the mistress 
of a large plantation of slaves to baptize seven children 
at the negro quarters. The quarters consisted of two 
large rooms, — an upper and a lower, — which ten 
slave women and lifteen slave men inhabited. He bap- 
tized the seven children in this instance, the mistress 
standing as sponsor, and assuming vows which the very 
nature of the institution would not permit her to per- 
form. Of the seven children, the real mother of one 
only could be ascertained ! the old nurses of the cabin 
caring for the children, while the women were at work 
in the field. 

The last act, as we learned from Lunsford, performed 
as the pastor of this parish, was the burial of Colonel 

P , the grandson of a distinguished actor in the 

American Revolution, and a signer of the Declaration 



168 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

of Independence. The demoralization of slave-holding 
had almost ruined this ancient and honorable family ; 
intemperance and profligate habits had at length 
crushed every manly virtue. The disgusting inebria- 
tion of the colonel was known to everybody, and it was 
predicted that his death would be sudden and calami- 
tous. Returning from his drunken sprees, he would lie 
in his bed for several days, until the effects of the vile 
compounds were over. On this last occasion, he had 
remained shut up in his room over two days, and his 
family, becoming alarmed, burst open the door and 
found, to their terrible grief and consternation, that he 
had probably been dead more than twenty-four hours ! 
His body-servant came to the parsonage for their pastor 
to perform the last sad rites over this unfortunate man's 
remains, who had thus not only ruined his noble name, 
but brought great disgrace upon all his connections. 
As the slave drove the clergyman to his late master's 
residence, several miles distant in the country, the 
horses, which were those used by the colonel, strove to 
turn in with them to the low dram-shops on the way. 
On one occasion Sam had quite a task in keeping them 
upon the road, so accustomed had they been to turn 
aside with their master in his visits to these places of 
infamy and ruin. The family found that it was impos- 
sible to keep the body until the day of burial, and it 
had been deposited in the family lot, near the old man- 
sion. He could administer but few words of consola- 
tion to the crushed widow and her well-educated daugh- 
ters. Their sufferings were rendered doubly severe at 
this time, as the daughters were entertaining at the 



A SAD FUNERAL. 100 

mansion several young ladies from the city, who were 
their classmates at school. The doctor could detect in 
this, and in many similar instances of defection from vir- 
tue, the insidious evils of slavery, — one vice generally 
fostering another ; the intemperance of the South far 
surpassing that of the Free States, in proportion to 
the population. We shall notice only one other person 
connected with Lunsford's stay in Raleigh. Dr. Lacy, 
who succeeded Dr. H., was a man of very different 
views respecting the divine institution of slavery. What 
he could do incidentally to strengthen it, he never hesi- 
tated to do. He knew of Lunsford's struggles for free- 
dom and for usefulness in the world ; he admitted that 
he was a man of naturally fine abilities,^ and capable of 
commanding a high position among his race. He knew 
that his presence in Raleigh produced unhappiness 
among the slaves, and excited in many a strong desire 
for freedom. Many persons, therefore, interested in 
the permanency of the institution, were devising means 
for his removal ; a plan had, doubtless, been suggested 
to Dr. Lacy. Meeting Lunsford one day, upon the 
street, he said to him that he would like to see him 
at his study, at a time which he named, as he had a 
matter to communicate to him which might be greatly 
to his interest to hear. Lunsford came at the appointed 
time, and, on being seated, Mr. Lacy stated that he had 
just received a printed document from President Rob- 
erts, of the Liberian Republic, which he would read to 
him. It set forth the great advantages of Liberia as a 
place of emigration for free blacks ; it gave glowing de- 
scriptions of the country, and of the progress in agri- 

15 



170 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

culture and the arts of civilization. Many colored per- 
sons of intelligence from America had been raised to 
posts of great honor and emolument. He referred to 
the case of Lewis Sheridan, a colored man whom Luns- 
ford knew as being once a resident in North Caro- 
lina, but now doing well in Liberia, and at that time 
expecting an election to the presidency. The doctor 
even proposed, if he would leave immediately for Libe- 
ria, many of the people of Raleigh would assist in pay- 
ing expenses. There was one important item in all this 
proposition, to which the doctor did not even allude, un- 
til suggested by Lunsford. It contemplated only his 
personal removal. What was to become of a wife and 
seven small children, all of them slaves ? Mr. Lacy did 
not say that it would be easy to find a wife in Liberia, 
and that his wife might find a husband in Raleigh. "If 
this proposition had been made at a time when I was in 
a situation to purchase the freedom of my wife and lit- 
tle ones, with the understanding that they were to ac- 
company me to that paradise of the colored man, — so 
considered, at least, by the Southern people, — I would 
gladly have entertained the proposition ; but as it pro- 
posed only my own removal, I simply said I ivould con- 
sider uy 

Although this book does not profess to speak of sla- 
very in its worst features, yet Lunsford had suffered 
much incidentally, or, perliaps, accidentally, from tlie 
singular working of the institution. His father was 
shot by one of the city guards, in the back, a large 
charge of buck-shot entering. He was confined to his 
bed for weeks. He was innocent of any offence ; he 



' THE PLANTATION NEAR TARBORO'. 171 

had gone out, after dark, to the market, at the desire 
of his master, and was returning, with no intention of 
molesting any one. His wife's brother was also shot, 
while at work for the overseer. The cruelty of the lat- 
ter compels him to seek security at his master's house. 
He is pursued by the overseer, his young master, John 
Boylan, refuses to succor him, and determines to have 
him punished. He escapes out of the house, and is 
shot as he runs across the field. Although not killed, 
he is maimed for life. Another man, belonging to the 
Boylan above, having run away on account of cruel 
treatment, is finally discovered by a neighbor, who had 
orders *to slvoot him on sight. He deliberately gets his 
gun, and shoots him through the head as he was pass- 
ing across his field. Another man belonging to his 
master was shot by the patrol guard, after dark. In 
none of these cases was there a legal investigation ; 
they were all passed over with but little comment, so 
used had the Southern people become to these scenes 
of blood. 

Lunsford used frequently to accompany his master, 
Mr. Haywood, in the spring, to his largest plantation, 
near Tarboro'. Here he had an opportunity of witness- 
ing many of the incidents of plantation life, leaving upon 
his mind very important lessons. Here over one hun- 
dred and fifty slaves were engaged in the various opera- 
tions of raising cotton, corn, and hogs. Lunsford and 
Sam, who usually accompanied them on these occa- 
sions, had no desire to exchange their comparatively 
comfortable home and clothing for the squalor and al- 
most nakedness of these negroes. Mr. Haywood usually 



172 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

remained three days upon the plantation, himself and 
servants being entertained at the house of the overseer. 
He inspected the condition of the crops in the autumn, 
and made arrangements for its being sent in flat-boats 
to Washington, and thence by vessels to New York. 
Many acres of corn on the stalk were left standing, and 
the swine, numbering at times over four hundred, 
turned into the field to gather their own provender. 
Having been fatted and killed, after this rough planta- 
tion style, the bacon is stored in the great smoke-house, 
to be distributed in rations through the year. In the 
spring, the whole force of the plantation is employed at 
the fisheries, — herring and shad abounding in the waters 
of the Tar River at the period referred to. At these 
times there is great laxity of discipline among the 
slaves, drunkenness, gambling, and Ucentiousness, pre- 
vailing to a most ruinous degree. Lunsford saw the 
gambling away of several weeks' rations, by the slaves, 
for a few quarts of villanous whiskey. This improvi- 
dence led to other vices, — thieving after night to sup- 
ply the means of living, for that which had been squan- 
dered in gambling. The overseer on this place usually 
kept three dogs trained to the business of tracking run- 
aways. The overseer's business was to make the land 
produce so much cotton, corn, and bacon. Beyond the 
labor required of the hands for this, he did not look. If 
they refused to labor, they were whipped ; if they ran 
away, they were hunted by the dogs. It is true that 
Mr. Haywood had discharged one overseer, by the 
name of Warren, on account of his excessive cruelty. 
He had lost by this means during the year several 



IMPROVIDENCE OF SLAVES. 173 

valuable men. One, the negro Ned, had been torn 
to pieces by the hounds. The overseer who succeed- 
ed him was Worril, who was as much too lenient 
as Warren was too severe. Lunsford remembers, 
during one of their visits, Worril' s failing in three 
attempts to whip the negro Phil. The desperate 
Ciiaracter of the man finally compelled him to desist, 
and he was sold South. 

The wretched condition of the slaves on this planta- 
tion was owing, in a great measure, to his master's 
residence in Raleigh, and his inability, from other en- 
gagements, to supervise matters personally. Their 
improvidence led to much sickness and to frequent 
deaths. The house-servants of Mr. Haywood dreaded 
nothing so much as the threat of being transferred to 
this plantation. We have thus far considered the rem- 
iniscences of Lunsford Lane during his residence in 
a Slave State ; how he conducted himself in a State of 
freedom, with the responsibility of the rearing of a large 
family, will be considered hereafter. 

15* 



CHAPTER X 



' Have ye heard of our hunting, o'er mounlain and glen. 
Through cane-brake and forest, — the hunting of men? 
The lords of our land to this hunting have gone, 
Ab the fox-hunter follows the sound of the horn; 
Hark! the cheer and the hallo! the crack of the whip, 
And the yell of the hound as he fastens his grip! 
All blithe are our hunters, and noble their match. 
Though hundreds are caught, there are millions to catch- 
So speed to their hunting, o'er mountain and glen, 
Through cane-bnike and forest, — the hunting of men I " 



THE RESCUED HOUSEHOLD ON THE SOIL OF FREEDOM — ATTENDS 
THE MAY ANNIVERSARIES IN NEW YORK AND BOSTON — AD- 
DRESSES THE ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION — IS WELL RE- 
CEIVED—EMPLOYED AS LECTURER -REMOVES TO OBERLIN, 
OHIO- OBERLIN RESCUE CASE, AND OTHERS. 

TO Lunsford and his rescued household, as their 
feet pressed the soil of freedom, every sight and 
sound, and every breath they inhaled, seemed to bring a 
new joy to their hearts, and to fill their souls with new 
energy to enter upon the new and untried life before 
them. They were poor ; but poverty to the industrious 
and virtuous is not the worst misfortune. They were 
of a despised race, and of a dark skin ; but there were 
evils greater than those, which they had escaped. Good 
conduct, strict attention to business, and faithfulness in 
their duties to God and man, miflit soften these preju- 
dices, perhaps in time remove them, and the dark skin 
might be no bar in cooperating with another race in 
the great enterprises of the benevolent and good. 

174 



THE RESCUED HOUSEHOLD. 175 

Lunsford was a man of deep religious convictions, 
and of unfeigned reverence for his Maker ; and one of 
his first acts, on^reaching PMladelphia, was the offering 
up, in the midst of his family, devout thanksgiving to 
God for the wonderful interpositions in his rescue from 
the hands of wicked men, and the future and untohl 
miseries which they might have experienced, had they 
not secured their freedom. 

After a little rest in Philadelphia, calling upon his 
friends, and extending his acquaintance among other 
colored men who had, like him, secured their freedom, 
he immediately set about seeking some means of living. 
He called upon those friends who had lately assisted 
him in releasing his family from bondage, and made 
known to them his situation. Henry C. Wright, an 
ardent friend of the colored man, in that city, advised 
him to go to New York at the coming May anniversa- 
ries, with the promise that his case would be presented 
to the members of the anti-slavery convention which 
would assemble at that time. Mr. Wright, true to his 
promise, gave a brief account of Lunsford' s late strug- 
gles for freedom, and the trials he had encountered. 
He closed by presenting Lunsford and his family to the 
convention, which included his aged mother, his wife, 
and seven children, all strangers, in a strange land, — 
all the earnings of a life gone to secure them that 
which by nature already belonged to them, — the right 
of " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

At the desire of the convention, Lunsford gave them 
a brief, clear, and intelligent history of his past life, of 
his labors for freedom up to the period of his recent 



176 IVIEMOIB OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

efforts in New York and Boston, in behalf of liis family, 
and the persecutions which awaited him in Raleigh, and 
upon his way out ; how tliat, out of them all, the Lord 
Iiad delivered them. So impressed was the convention 
wiih his transparent honesty, his fine use of language, 
.'•o entirely free from that almost unintelligible style of 
many of his race, so dignified and polite in his bearing 
toward others, that they determined to aid him in 
every way in their power. At the close of his address, 
a collection was taken, and over thirty dollars was con- 
tributed by these self-denying men toward liis support. 
At the suggestion of his friends, he followed the mem- 
bers of the convention to Boston, where he was also 
'\vell received, and a good collection taken. His re- 
marks here also added to the good feeling excited in 
his behalf, and it was determinfid to employ liim as a 
lecturer m the New England States, and thus contrib- 
ute, as far as he was able, in awakerdng greater inter- 
est in the emancipation of his race. 

The terms of his engagement having been arranged, 
lie departed upon his mission as an anti-slavery lecturer. 
His associates in these labors were men distinguished 
for their anti-slavery efforts, with whom he often spoke 
upon the same platform. Among them he mentions 
the names of Parker Pillsbury, Wendell Phillips, Fred. 
Douglas, Charles L. Remond, and others. In this way 
he visited Maine, New Hampshhe, Vermont, Massachu- 
setts, and Rhode Island, lecturing in all the principal 
towns, scattering tracts, and endeavoring, hi all laudable 
ways, to interest the people in the condition of the black 
man, and illustratmg, in his own life, their ability, un- 



ATTE>JDS THE MAY AJSNIVEESAEIES. 177 

der favorable conditions, to take care of themselves. 
That he was the humble instrument, under God, of 
doing much toward arousing the nation to the mon- 
strous wickedness of slavery, in the Umted States, in 
the nmeteenth century, no one can for a moment doubt. 
He may have added just that amount of fuel, small 
though it might be, that has kindled a conflagration 
over the decajdng uistitution of cruelty and wrong. 
This conflagration will not cease until every rotten 
stick and timber in the house of slavery shall be con- 
sumed. Let us await calmly the day when, the rubbish 
and charred remains having been removed, the hand of 
lionest free labor will visit these desolate regions, and 
rear upon the former ruins the substantial fabrics of 
a new and more glorious civilization. 

Li these self-denying labors, the generous people did 
not forget that the workman was worthy of his wages. 
He was enabled to support his family comfortably in 
Boston, and attend to the education of his children. 

In May, 1848, he was invited to visit New York, and 
be present at the amiiversary of the Baptist Home 
Missionary Association. He was here requested to 
make some remarks. The Association was so much 
hnpressed with liis good sense and zeal in every good 
work that they immediately engaged his services as 
colporteur, with instructions to operate especially among 
his own people, of whom a large number in all the pop- 
ulous towns are members of the Baptist Church. His 
labors, however, were not confined to this class, and his 
uifluence and sensible conversation upon religious sub- 
jects were sought by many others. In this good work 



178 MEMOIR OF LUN8F0RD LANE. 

be contmiiecl to operate, with more or less success, for 
nearly two years. The seed of the Word thus sown, it 
is hoped, will be seen after many days. 

In 1852, Heath & Graves published Hackett's Illus- 
trations of the Scriptures, which work was the result of 
extensive travels in the Holy Land and careful investi- 
gation of many subjects of Biblical interest. Lunsford, 
desiring to better, if possible, his pecuniary condition, 
and at the same time scatter Scriptural knowledge, en- 
gaged his services as agent in the circulation of this 
work. In this enterprise he continued about two years. 

At frequent times, during the last few years, infor- 
mation had reached Lunsford that many of his ac- 
quaintances from North Carolina had settled at Oberlin, 
Ohio. He opened a correspondence with them, and 
was so much pleased with their accounts of the mild- 
ness of the climate, and its correspondence to North 
Carolina, — in some respects thus reminding them of 
home, — that he determined, if possible, to remove 
thither. Death had also entered his household, and 
four of his children had been taken. The family all 
suffered much from the rigors of the climate of Massa- 
chusetts, and he felt persuaded that their health would 
be improved by removing to one milder. About the 
year 1856, he gathered up his effects and departed with 
his family, at great sacrifice of many social comforts, 
and at the severance of many ties in the goodly com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. Arriving at Oberlin, he 
looked about for a place of residence. He at length 
found a place, which he hoped his slender means would 
enable him to purchase. Unfortunately, he fell into 



OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 179 

the hands of unprincipled land speculators, who suc- 
ceeded in swindling him out of nearly all the funds he 
had invested. The small estate he was enabled to pur- 
chase, he found had been mortgaged to other parties for 
far more than it was worth. Unscrupulous men are by 
no means confined to the South, and the colored man 
must be upon his guard, here, as everywhere, against 
" the cruel man and the extortioner." The eager grasp 
for money and power regards neither condition nor 
color. Lunsford, not finding the comforts and conven- 
iences of living there so great as he had been led to 
expect, and having been swindled out of a large portion 
of his slender means, determined to return to Massa- 
chusetts. The Oberlin rescue case having occurred 
about that time, he felt no desire to remain where 
there was any doubt of maintaining the freedom of 
himself and family. The climate, too, did not agree 
with them, and the additional sorrow of parting, by 
death, with another child, hastened their departure. 

The administration of Mr. Buchanan was distin- 
guished for the vigor and cruelty with which the fugi- 
tive slave law was enforced. Hundreds are the vic- 
tims who were torn from their comfortable homes, in 
the Free States, and consigned to slavery. We are not 
now considering the question as to whether these per- 
sons were really fugitives ; we simply state the fact 
that the history of our annals furnishes nothing which 
the future historian will read with so much pain as 
these arrests. The Oberlin and Wellington rescue case 
would of itself fill a large volume. We have space 
here only for a very brief outline. Many of its un~ 



180 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

pleasant features must be left untouched. The follow- 
ing intelligent account has been recently given to the 
press. The case was a tedious and protracted effort on 
the part of the United States government, prostituted 
in all its branches to the service of slavery, — that 
" sum of all villanies," which assimilates to itself all 
that enlist in its defence and service, — to harass and 
punish a large body of peaceable, moral, and liighly- 
respectable citizens of North Ohio, simply because they 
could not sit quietly down and see a worthy young 
man of their town snatched from all the privileges of 
his home and of freedom, by a ruthless gang of man- 
stealers. Among their number were several students 
of the college at Oberlin, one of its professors, the rest 
being citizens of the town and neighborhood, of both 
colors. 

On Saturday, September 11, 1858, two slave-hunters 
came to the house of Lewis D. Boynton, near Oberlin, 
and remained there over two nights. On Monday 
morning, a son of Boynton, only twelve years of age, 
took a horse and buggy of his father, and proceeded to 
the village of Oberlin. Findmg the colored man John, 
sometimes called " Little John," he told him his father 
wished to hire him to dig potatoes. The unsuspecting 
man agreed to go, and to accompany the boy back. 
When about one-half mile from the village, a carriage, 
coming from a cross-road, came behind, when the lad 
(Boynton) stopped. The first intimation to John of 
the snare set for him was to find himself seized from 
behind by the arms, dragged from the buggy, pinioned 
and placed in the carriage between these brave Ken- 



OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 181 

tucky captors. Fortunately for the kidnapped man, ho 
was recognized, while being driven rapidly away, by an 
Oberlin student who was passing, and who made haste 
to give the alarm along the road and at Oberlin. 

The lad (Boynton) returned to his father's house 
with a golden reward for his part in the inhuman be- 
trayal of a fellow-being into slavery. Can it be believed, 
even in this slave-holding and demoralized land, that 
this same Lewis D. Boynton, the hired accomplice in 
this nefarious business should have been selected and 
allowed to act as one of the Grand Jurors * by whom 
the rescuers of this unfortunate negro were subse- 
quently indicted ? 

To return: a large body of Oberlin residents re- 
sponded to the alarm-call, and, in various vehicles, well- 
armed, took the road to Wellington, the nearest station 
upon the Cleveland & Cincinnati Railroad. Their num- 
bers increased as they went, and, on arriving at W., they 
found the slave-hunters, with United States officers, at the 
hotel, waiting the arrival of the train. United States 
Marshal Lowe produced some papers and read them. 
The crowd demanded that the man be brought out. 
Some State officers present assured them that if they 
would be patient the United States marshal and assist- 
ants should be arrested as kidnappers. But the after- 
noon wore away, and nothing was done beyond prevent- 
ing the departure of the man-stealers and their victim. 
Finally the prisoner was discovered at an upper win- 
dow, and the crowd could wait no longer. A ladder 

* See " Fugitive Slave Law and itB Victims," page 103. 
16 



182 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

was placed, by which men reached the balcony, entered 
the house, and gained the attic story, and the prisoner 
was borne out and down among the crowd in a very 
short time. "No one," says the narrator, "was hurt, 
not a shilling's damage done, not a shot fired, and the 
boy was saved." The marshal, somewhat disturbed by 
these proceedings, asked if his life would be spared. 
He was answered that it would be, provided he would 
not again visit those parts on the same errand. 

The government of the United States thereupon in- 
dicted thirty-seven persons, to appear before the United 
States Circuit Court, at Cleveland, to answer to the 
charge of " rescuing, or aiding, abetting, and assisting 
to rescue a fugitive from service or labor." As was 
expected, not a single friend of the administration con- 
cerned in the rescue was indicted. This policy was 
clear, from the circumstance that Boynton had been se- 
lected to serve on the Grand Jury. On the 8th of De- 
cember, fourteen of the indicted persons were present, 
and were arraigned before the court. The Hon. R. P. 
Spaulding, Hon. N. P. Riddle, and S. 0. Griswold, Esq., 
appeared as their counsel, undertaking their defence 
free of charge. Judge Spaulding announced that the 
accused were ready for trial, and requested trial imme- 
diately. This evidently disconcerted the district attor- 
ney. Judge Belden, and he was obliged to admit that he 
was not ready for trial, and asked a delay of a fortnight 
to obtain witnesses from Kentucky. Judge Spaulding 
asked if it was " reasonable and humane that fourteen 
citizens of Ohio should be thrown into jail to await the 
movements of Kentucky slave-catchers?" The Court, 



OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 183 

however, granted a continuance, and stated that the 
defendants would be held to bail in the sum of five 
hundred dollars each. " We give no bail, may it please 
the Court ; and the prisoners are here subject to the or- 
der of the Court." Again, both the Court and prosecut- 
ing officer seemed confounded ; but, after consultation, 
it was decided to discharge the prisoners on their own 
recognizance to appear at the March term. In the course 
of the winter, a young man, a student in Oberlin Col- 
lege, went to the neighborhood of Columbus to teach a 
school. His name was William E. Lincoln; he was 
one of the number indicted for participating in the res- 
cue. He is described by Professor Peck as " a person 
of excellent character and deportment." One day, 
when engaged in his school, he was summoned to the 
door by a man named Samuel Davis, a bailiff of the 
United States Court, who informed him that he had a 
writ which it was his duty to execute, and produced 
handcuffs, which he proceeded to apply. Mr. Lincoln 
objected to being pinioned ; said he should make no re- 
sistance, but would go with him at once. But Davis 
was one of the men who got badly frightened at Wel- 
lington, at the time of the rescue, and insisted on put- 
ting the irons upon Lincoln's hands, and bore him 
away. He was taken to Columbus, twelve miles dis- 
tant, and put in a foul cell, where the vermin were 
crawling over its walls, and no food was given him until 
three o'clock the next morning. Several visitors were 
allowed to come into his cell and insult him ; among 
these was a man named Dayton, who had been one of 
the aids of United States Marshal Lowe, at the time of 



184 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

the Oberlin kidnapping. The next day, Lowe took Mr. 
Lincoln to Cleveland, where Judge Wilson discharged 
him on his own recognizance to appear at the March 
court. These facts are gleaned from a spirited letter of 
Professor Peck to the Columbus State Journal. In the 
mean time the Grand Jury of Loraine County had unan- 
imously found bills of indictment against the United 
States deputy marshal, Jacob Lowe, and others, for at- 
tempting to kidnap John Rice from Oberlin. Tn April, 
the trial of the indicted thirty-seven came on in Cleve- 
land. After a ten days' hearing upon the single case 
of Lorin Bushnell, the jury brought in a verdict of 
guilty 1 The name of Mr. Langston was next called. 
The counsel objected to his trial going on before the 
same jury which had just heard and determined the 
case of Bushnell. Judge Wilson gav€ it to be under- 
stood that no other jury would be called. Judge 
Spaulding and the counsel then declined arguing the 
case. The judge said the prisoners would be allowed 
to go on their parole to return on Monday morning. 
The prisoners declined to give either recognizance or 
parole, and were taken to jail, where the officer de- 
clined to incarcerate them in cells, but made them as 
comfortable as he could in his own house. At this stage 
of the proceedings, the prisoners applied to the supreme 
court of the State of Ohio for a writ of habeas corpus^ 
to take them from the custody of the United States mar- 
shal. This was heard by the full bench, and the writ re- 
fused, on the ground of comity to the United States 
courts. Li this decision three judges agreed ; the other 
two, Brinkerhoif and Sutliff, dissenting. As the time 



OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 185 

drew nigh for the trial of the four kidnappers, indicted, 
as above stated, by the Grand Jury of Loraine County, 
and they saw no escape from the Oliio penitentiary, a 
proposition to compromise the whole matter was made 
and agreed upon, by which the United States abandoned 
all prosecutions against the rescuers, and the Ohio au- 
thorities agreed to abandon the suits against Jennings 
and others. The people of Ohio made sufficient resist- 
ance to the law to show the country its odious inhu- 
manity. The courts of Ohio were wise in not resisting 
the United States, as it subsequently gave to the cause 
of freedom an immense moral power, when the govern- 
ment came over to the side of justice and humanity. 

In portions of some of the Free States, where there 
had been a large influx of Southern people, very 
little resistance was made to kidnapping, and hun- 
dreds of unfortunate colored men, under the counte- 
nance given by the existence of the fugitive slave law, 
were sent into slavery, and but little time was wasted 
by unprincipled men in deciding the question of their 
right to freedom. For several years previous to the 
time of which we are now speaking, southern Illinois 
had been the hunting-ground of the men-stealers, and 
it is stated that within the past ten years, scores, per- 
haps hundreds, of freemen have been kidnapped. The 
law is powerless to punish the villains, or to bring back 
the captives. There were many counties in which no 
man of color was safe ; and there was a large band of 
men, known to each other by the secret badges of their 
profession, who lived by making negroes their prey. 
As the object of this work is to deal with facts, rather 

IG* 



180 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

than fancy, we extract the following interesting account 
from the Chicago Tribune^ of a recent kidnapping case 
near Clifton, Illinois : — 

" On Sunday, June 3d, 1860, three colored men, liv- 
ing in or near Clifton,— a village near Ashkum, a sta- 
tion on the Illinois Central Road, about sixty miles 
from Chicago, — were enticed by seven or eight whites 
into a country store, or grocery, and, when there, were 
pounced upon by their armed decoys, now turned as- 
sailants, and, under threats of instant death from re- 
volvers pointed at their breasts, were compelled to sub- 
mit to the commands of those 'who, by force and fraud, 
had overpowered them. They were instantly hurried 
off to Ashkum, and their captors, having timed their 
movements to correspond with the motions of the down 
train, thrust their prey, still guarded by an array of pis- 
tols and bowie-knives, into the cars, and bore off the 
unfortunate men. All this was accomplished without a 
legal process of any kind, — by brute force alone, ille- 
gally and diabolically. The indignation of the quiet 
community in which this occurred was thoroughly 
aroused by the outrage ; but all parties — the wronged 
and the wrong-doers — were gone ; hid in a Slave 
State, under the shadow of the institution that justifies 
all such atrocities ; and everybody despaired of being 
able to bring the captives back, or the scoundrels to 
the punishment that they had richly earned. 

"The kidnapped men were carried to St. Louis as fast 
as steam could convey them, jealously guarded all the 
way. Arrived there, they were thrust into a negro- 
pen, which still disgraces that free-soil city, and the 



KIDNAPPING CASE. 187 

work, with a view to the profits of the great crime, was 
commenced. In answer to the inquiry directed to each, 
^ Who is your master ? ' one averred that he was then, 
and always had been, a free man ; another refused to 
answer ; while the third, the man Jim, said that he had 
been the property of Aime Pernard, a farmer near Ca- 
rondelet, seven miles from the city. The man who 
claimed to be free, and his silent fellow-prisoner, were 
tied up and cruelly flogged, — the one to refresh his 
recollection of the servitude that his captors suspected, 
and the other to open his mouth to a confession which 
he would not make. Whipping proving of no avail, 
other forms of cruelty — hunger the most potent — were 
tried, — but with no better success. At last, both of these 
men — one torn ruthlessly from his wife and children, 
and the other from a neighborhood in which his indus- 
try had made him respected, and each from a life of 
freedom and enjo3nnent — were sent South and sold. 
They were prisoners of war, and as such, in this time 
of peace, were compelled to submit to the captors' will. 
In a State which permits the buying and selling of men 
and women, and accounts it patriotism, what could they 
do ? Poor, friendless, and black, adjudged to have no 
rights that wliite men are bound to respect, what could 
they do ? The tide Miat has overwhelmed four millions 
of their kind has overborne them. They sunk into the 
great vortex, never to be heard of more. A " nigger 
funeral" — perchance of some unfortunate creature 
who has died imder the lash for his repeated attempts 
to gain freedom, or of one whom a rifle-shot sent into 
the swamp had killed, or of a man prematurely worn 



188 MEMOIE OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

out by labor, and the whip, hunger, and the branding 
h^on — will close the earthly career of each. There is 
a hereafter. ' Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn ; 
for they shall be comforted.' While this whipping, ship- 
ping, and selling was going on, Aime Pernard, the owner 
of Jim, was visited by one of the kidnappers. He went 
with orders to buy Jim, running, — buy the chances of 
a capture, after five years' absence. One hundred dol- 
lars was the sum named for this fugitive piece of flesh 
and blood. But it was indignantly refused. The sum 
was doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and, at last, multi- 
plied by ten ; but all temptations failed to get them a 
legal title to their prey. They served this purpose, 
however: the owner's suspicions were aroused by the 
amount offered by the scoundrels, and their unconcealed 
eagerness to effect a trade. On Saturday, a week after 
the capture, he sent a negro woman into St. Louis, — -the 
woman being the mother of Jim, — • to make the inqui- 
ries the case seemed to demand. The mother's instinct 
led her to the right place. Admitted to the pen, she rec- 
ognized her son, learned from his lips his sufferings and 
danger, and then, with such speed as she could com- 
mand, hurried back to the master's house. Her story 
sent him into the city, and to the slave-pen direct. 
Jim's story was repeated with such emphasis and par- 
ticularity that every drop of that master's blood tingled 
in his veins. His haggard appearance, his wounds, and 
marks of stripes attested to the master's sight the truth 
of the words that fell upon his ears. He called tlie 
keeper of the place, commanded the humane treatment 



KIDNAPPING CASE. 189 

of his charge, and left, with the promise that he would 
return and relieve him of his charge. This was on 
Sunday morning. Very eaiiy on the following day, 
Aime Pernard appeared again at the prison-gate, to pay 
the sum— one hundred dollars — allowed by the laws of 
the State to the captors of a fugitive, and the jail fees, 
amounting to thirty-five more ; and to rig Jim out in a 
new suit, which his master had brought along, was but 
a half-hour's work. This done, the two went back to 
Carondelet, Jim yet doubtful of his fate. But, after a 
day or two, his case was talked over between his master 
and himself, and when we state the result, we afford 
proof of Jim's eloquence, and the generosity and noble- 
ness of the master's heart. Jim's free papers were 
made out, his stock of money was considerably in- 
creased, a ticket to Clifton was put in his hand, and, 
walking by the side of his late master, now protector 
and friend, the two crossed the Mississippi into Illinois. 
Here, seating him in the Northern train, the master, 
with tears flowing down his cheeks and a warm pressure 
of the hand, bade Jim good-by, and invoked for him 
God's blessing to speed him on the way ! 

" On Wednesday evening, Jim made his appearance, 
suddenly and without warning, at Clifton, whence he 
had been carried off. He was waving his free paper 
over his head. A little crowd collected around him, 
and he briefly related his adventures, and the kindness 
of that master. A gentleman harnessed a horse to take 
him to the farm where he had been employed, and 
another, with rare consideration, rode off to warn Jim's 
v/ife of his return and coming. ' Niggers have no feel- 



190 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ing ; it don't hurt 'em to have their domestic life made 
the plaything of white men's cupidity and lust,' say 
the man-sellers. That strong woman's cry of joy, as 
she clasped her husband in her arms ; her devout 
thanksgiving to God that her life was not left all dark ; 
her breakmg down under the flood of emotion which 
the glad event aroused ; her sobs and plaints, inter- 
rupted only by unuttered prayers to the Father of white 
and black alike ; the deep feeling Jim displayed ; that 
delicious joy, ennobled by the new consciousness of free- 
dom and security in the possession of a wife and a 
home, — these, leaving not a dry eye in that little crov,^d 
of lookers-on, disprove the slander. And to-day, the 
relation of the scene at that meeting even in Clifton, 
where it is a thrice-told tale, brings tears from eyes that 
are unused to weep. 

" There is not much to add to this narrative. The 
ladies of Clifton, moved by the rare generosity of Aime 
Pernard, united in a letter, thanking him in warm 
terms for what he had done, and inviting him to pay 
them a visit at his earliest convenience, that they might 
In person point out to him the evidence of the good he 
had done. 

" Mr. Pernard's reply to the ladies was a very honor- 
able and noble one, which, but for its length, would have 
been inserted here." 

We close this chapter with the following very touch- 
ing incident, which reminds us of many similar scenes 
on the Pennsylvania border, where communities of col- 
ored persons had peacefully congregated, and were liv- 
ing happily until the rigorous enforcement of the fugi- 



A CHURCH FLEEING FOR REFUGE. 191 

tive slave law compelled them to flee, with all their 
effects, to a safer and more distant locality. The ac- 
count is taken from the New York Independent, with 
this heading: "A Methodist Church fleeing to a City of 
Refuge." The case is one of a touching character, for 
which it has responsible authority saying that all its 
facts may be relied upon. 

"A few days since, I was travelling in the neighbor- 
hood of the great road (once governmental, when it was 
constitutional for the general government to have roads 
or build them) leading from the capital of the Union 
to the 'frontiers' Here I saw what the historic page 
describes, but which I hoped my eyes and heart would 
never be pained with seeing, — a church fleeing for 
refuge. Some on foot, leading their children by the 
hand ; others in wagons, and following the ' leading of 
the better Providence,' were forsaking their homes, 
lands, neighbors, and the church of their adoption, to 
find, under the flag of the Crown, that ' liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness ' denied them under the stars and 
stripes. 

"Tears and sorrows were their companions. Yet, 
hidden by their heaving bosoms, were hearts strong in 
the faith of the covenant-keeping God, that, under a 
colder sky, and on a more congenial soil, his blessed 
manifestations they should enjoy, and their blood, and 
the blood of their kindred and children, no man should 
dare to claim. True, they had left farms and firesides, 
homes and friends ; but they were carrying with them 
the altar in the heart, and the Shekinah. 

''As I wished them a hearty God-speed, I remembered 



192 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

that at the last quarterly meeting of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, I had seen them surround the altar, 
and there commune, with myself and others, at the 
table of the Lord. I thought, as I ran over the names 
of the remnant left, and behold, here was a large moi- 
ety of the church, — enough to form a new church, — 
' fleeing into the wilderness ; ' I thought, too, of Pastor 
Robinson's Church in the Mayflower, — that Puritan 
Church from the West of England, among whom were 
my maternal ancestors ; of that church which fled to 
Holland, numbering with it my paternal ancestors ; of 
the Huguenots, who found in the Georgias that freedom 
to worship God which France denied. A host of worthy 
examples came crowding into my mind. The Holy 
Family, too, who had sought and obtained in Egypt, 
liberty and life that the constituted authorities of the 
Fatherland had refused them; and I said to myself. 
They are in good company. Better to cast in my lot 
with these than with the Herods and Henrys and Har- 
leses, and other oppressors of God's people. 

" The pursuer was on their track ; they were the 
hunted, panting fugitives. So, too, the minions of 
Herod sought for my infant Lord. I could not be 
ashamed of them. Before them were the wilds of 
Canada, and hardships, poverty, and suffering. But 
Liberty, blessed spirit, was there also. Behind them 
was the hated rice-field and cotton and slavery. 

" I knew where they were from, and who claimed 
them, and my duties under the Constitution, in the 
mind of their claimant ; but I remembered who owned 
them, having purchased them with his own blood; and 



A CHURCH FLEEING FOR REFUGE. 19B 

n(i marshal's baton, no power on earth, should have 
persuaded or forced me to detain them a moment. Let 
no man talk to me of laiv^ and my duties as a law-abid- 
ing subject. I am a law-abiding and law-loving sub- 
ject, as were all my fathers before me ; but my moth- 
ers have been scourged, fined, imprisoned, for refusing 
to obey the laws of the crown of England, — self-con- 
stituted authorities of God, — and their descendant 
honors and venerates them for their disobedience. 
Their blood flows freely and hotly in his veins. It cur- 
dles at the fugitive slave law, and will spill the last 
drop before yielding the slightest obedience to it. Law 
must commend itself to my conscience, before I can 
conscientiously obey it. My conscience is not the crea- 
ture of the law, but above it, beyond it, could exist 
without it. A violated conscience, what law can heal ? 
Yet I would not resist by force this law, however hate- 
ful or odious, nor would I resist any law. It is one 
thing to resist, and another thing to refuse to obey. A 
refusal to obey may call for penalties, and stripes may 
be gloried in, and a dungeon become the paradise of 
God. R. P. S." 

17 



CHAPTER XI. 

' When 1 behold this fickle, trustless state 

Of vahi world's glory, flitting to and fro, 
And mortal men tossed by troublous fate, 

In restless seas of wretchedness and woe, 
I wish I might this weary life forego, 

And sweetly turn unto my happy rest, 
Where my free Spirit might not any more 

Be vexed with sights that do her peace molest.' 



PRACTISES THE HEALING ART— DR. LANE'S VEGETABLE PILLS — 
HIS PARENTS JOIN HIM — THEIR QUIET LIFE AT WRENTHAM 
— THEIR DEATH— LUNSFORD'S CONNECTION WITH THE COL- 
ORED BAPTIST CHURCH IN JOY STREET, BOSTON — INTEREST- 
ING DOCUMENTS. - 

FAILING- in his Western enterprise, Lunsford re- 
turned to Massachusetts, and determined to settle 
in Worcester. His means by this time were nearly 
exhausted ; but, possessing good health, natural re- 
sources, and a disposition to labor, he soon placed his 
family in comfortable circumstances. We have omit- 
ted, thus far, to mention one fact in Lunsford's past life 
which added something to his pecuniary support and 
increased the respect entertained by those who knew 
him well. Early in life, when a slave in Mr. Hay- 
wood's family, he had evinced considerable knowledge 
and good judgment in the curative art. Although he 
had perused no work or treatise upon " materia med- 
ica," we have no doubt that the best-informed members 
of the profession had much more respect for his evi- 

194 



PRACTISES THE HEALING ART. 195 

dent good sense and modesty of professions than for 
the multitude of quacks who add nothing to the health 
or to the credit of the community. 

The vegetable medicines used by Lunsford among 
the slaves upon his master's plantation, where he was 
permitted at times to give his advice, were those of his 
own selection and the result of continued experiment. 
His success in many cases in Raleigh among the hum- 
bler classes, where for a time he practised the healing 
art, was a circumstance particularly noticed. Soon 
people of the better class sought his advice, and readily 
accorded to him the physician's prenomen of Doctor. 
He had continued to practise the art after his settle- 
ment in the Free States, as opportimity admitted, never 
designing, however, to enter upon it as a profession. 

And yet if Dr. Lane's Yegetable Pills have never 
done much good to mankind, he promises they will 
do no harm; but they have added something to 
his pecuniary support. We shall now return to an 
earlier period in Lunsford's history, to detail several 
events that added much to the happiness of every mem- 
ber of his family. About the year 1844, whilst the 
family were residing at Boston, his father joined him. 
This event was brought about in the following way : — 

Mrs. John Haywood, many years before this, had left 
his father free, with the understanding that he was to 
remain in the family as steward, in which office he had 
acted with great acceptance for years before. This de- 
sire on Mrs. Haywood's part arose from the circum- 
stance that her youngest daughter, Frances, was at this 
time only eleven years old, and she was desirous that 



196 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Uncle Ned — by which sobriquet he was familiarly 
known — should remain until she was of age. His 
peculiar business, at odd moments, when relieved from 
other duties, was to tote about this young heiress-ap- 
parent of future slaves, who were in turn to do the 
same " toting" for the generations yet unborn. It was 
the request of Mrs. Ha3rwood — who, no doubt, imag- 
ined that her children would inherit her benevolent 
disposition — that Uncle Ned should be paid remuner- 
ative wages during this period, in view of his valuable 
services in maintaining, as far as a sensible servant 
could, the dignity and good order of the family. The 
seven years passed by, during which Uncle Ned re- 
mained faithful to his post, but no payment for services 
was forthcoming. They could not think now of turn- 
ing him away in his old age to care for himself ; they 
therefore pressed him to remain, and he continued to 
make himself useful to the children of a new genera- 
tion for seven years after. 

They were, indeed, kind to him; — how could they 
be otherwise ! Such was his sense of respect for the 
family of the Haywoods, such the goodness of his 
heart, that though they had broken their solemn con- 
tract with him, he ever entertained the kindest feel- 
ings toward them, and would never allow even his own 
wife or child to utter in his presence a disparaging sen- 
tence. During this time, the son, by the efforts already 
detailed, having secured a comfortable home in Boston, 
intimated to the family in Raleigh the satisfaction it 
would be to have his father join him where his aged 
wife also lived. The Haywoods consented to this prop- 



UNCLE NED. 197 

osition, and Uncle Ned soon found himself surrounded 
by the strange sights and sounds of civilized life in 
Boston. Unused to such scenes, so unlike life in the 
country, his son, to render life more congenial to his 
habits, more easy and agreeable, procured him the 
situation of gardener to the villagers about Wrentham. 
Fortunately for the aged father, the Rev. Horace James 
was at this time the colleague of the Rev. Dr. Fisk, 
pastor of the Congregational Church in Wrentham. In 
Mr. James he found a true friend and sympathizer. 
He employed Uncle Ned in taking care of his garden 
and groimds, and in many ways added to his comfort, 
making up in a large degree for the kindness expe- 
rienced in the old family mansion in Raleigh. Very 
soon, through the efforts of his industrious son, the 
subject of this memoir, a comfortable home was pur- 
chased for his aged parents. Here Uncle Ned was per- 
mitted for more than fifteen years to enjoy the society 
of his wife and the grandchildren, who often made 
them visits from Boston. 

He secured the respect of the whole community, and 
by his polite and obliging manners endeared himself to 
all. At his death the people in large numbers came to 
pay a last tribute of respect to the remains of a good 
man. The body was escorted by a large procession to 
one of the churches in town, and two clergymen of 
different denominations were present to bear their testi- 
mony to his worth, and to perform the last sad rites 
due to a deceased fellow-mortal. The religious papers 
of the day spoke of his pious walk, and the happy ex- 

17* 



198 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ample left by this descendant of a despised and down- 
trodden race. 

Three months after the death of his father, Lunsford 
was called to the death-bed of his mother ; her end was 
hastened by a paralytic shock, which she had experi- 
enced several years before. They were buried side by 
side, in Wrentham, — beloved and esteemed for their 
virtues by the whole community. 

During the period alluded to above, Lunsford and fam- 
ily resided in Boston and enjoyed frequent communica- 
tion with the aged parents living in Wrentham. 

The family had connected themselves with the First 
Independent Colored Baptist Church. The disposition 
of Lunsford to render himself useful in every good 
word and work was strongly evinced in his efforts to 
aid this church. The old building, now known as the 
''Joy Street Church," having fallen into decay, the 
members came together to devise means for its repair, 
and, if advisable, the entire remodelling of the edifice. 
With great unanimity they selected Mr. Lane as their 
agent to solicit subscriptions for this object. In this 
work he was engaged nearly two years, procuring for 
the society a large portion of the funds with which the 
object was successfully accomplished, in the present 
neat and comfortable building. 

The following documents may seem curious to the 
citizens of Massachusetts, wlio are unacquainted with 
the business of buying and selling men, women, and 
children. Lunsford, as every prudent man should, who 
has ever been in like circumstances, has preserved care- 



BILLS OF SALE. 199 

fully the bills of sale which accompanied the transfer 
of his wife and children to his hands. Both are in the 
handwriting of Mr. Smith. The first is that of his 
daughter Laura, as follows : — 

" State of K'orth Carolina, Wake County. 

" Know all men by these presents, That for, and 
in consideration of, the sum of two hundred and fifty 
dollars, to me in hand paid, I have this day bargained 
and sold, and do hereby bargain, sell, and deliver, unto 
Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, a certain negro 
girl by the name of Laura, aged about seven years, and 
hereby warrant and defend the right and title of said 
girl to said Lunsford and his heirs forever, free from 
the claims of all persons whatsoever. 

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and seal, at Raleigh, this 17th day of May, 1841. 

" B. B. Smith. (Seal.) 

"Witness — Robt. W. Haywood." 

The following is a similar document pertaining to 
the sale of his wife and the other six children, to which 
the papers following are attached : — 

" State of North Carolina, Wake County. 
" Know all men by these presents. That for, and 
in consideration of the sum of eighteen hundred and 
eighfy dollars, to me in hand paid, the receipt of which 
is hereby acknowledged, I have this day bargained, sold, 
and delivered unto Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, 
one dark mulatto woman, named Patsy, one boy named 
Edward, one boy also, named William, one boy also, 



200 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

named Lunsford, one girl named Maria, one boy also, 
named Ellick, and one girl named Lucy, to have and to 
hold the said negroes free from the claims of all per- 
sons whatsoever. 

^^In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my 
hand and seal, this 25th day of April, 1842. 

" B. B. Smith. (Seal.) 
"Witness — Thos. L. West." 



" State of North Carolhsta, Wake County. 
^'■Office of Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, April 26, 1842. 

" The execution of the within bill of sale was this 
day du.ly acknowledged before me, by B. B. Smith, the 
executor of the same. In testimony whereof I have 
^q 1 -. hereunto affixed the seal of said court, and 
subscribed my name at office, in Raleigh, the 
date above. "Jas. T. Marriott, Clerks 

" State of North Carolina, Wake County. 

" I, William Boylan, presiding magistrate of the 
Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for the county 
aforesaid, certify that Jas. T. Marriott, who has written 
and signed the above certificate, is clerk of the court 
aforesaid, that the same is in due form, and full faith 
and credit are due to such his official acts. 

" Given under my hand and private seal (having no 
seal of office) this 26th day of April, 1842. 

" Wm. Boylan, P. M." (Seal.) 



INTERESTING DOCUMENTS. 201 

"The State of North Carolina. 
"To ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME — 

Greeting : — Be it known, That William Boylan, whose 
signature appears in his own proper handwriting to 
the annexed certificate, was, at the time of signing the 
same, and now is, a Justice of the Peace, and the pre- 
siding magistrate for the County of Wake, in the State 
aforesaid, and as such he is duly qualified and empow- 
ered to give such certificate, which is done here in the 
usual and proper manner ; and full faith and credit are 
due to the same and ought to be given to all the official 
acts of said William Boylan as presiding magistrate 
aforesaid. 

" In testimony whereof, I, J. M. Morehead, Governor, 
Captain-general, and Commander-in-chief, have caused 
the great seal of the State to be hereunto affixed, and 
r L s 1 signed the same at the city of Raleigh, on 
the 26th day of April, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, and in 
the sixty-sixth year of the Independence of the United 
States. "J. M. Morehead. 

" By the Governor. 

" P. Reynolds, Private Sec'y.^^ 



CHAPTER XII. 



' Oh, dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb 
Waiting for God, your hour at last has come, 

And Freedom's song 
Breaks the long sUence of your night of wrong I 

' Arise and flee 1 shake off the vile restraint 
Of ages 1 but, like Ballymena's saint. 

The oppressor spare; 
Heap only on his head the coals of prayerl 

' Go forth, like him ! like him, return again 
To bless the land, whereon, in bitter pain, 

Ye toiled at first, * 

And heal with freedom what your slavery cursed i ' 



THE REBELLION OF SLAVE-HOLDERS -LUNSFORD LECTURES ON 
THE SUBJECT -WHAT SHALL BE DONE WITH THE FREED- 
MEN? — THE WELLINGTON HOSPITAL- APPOINTED AS STEW- 
ARD-ALACRITY OF COLORED MEN TO AID THE GOVERNMENT 
-THEIR POLICY -MR. WHITING'S LETTER— THE TESTIMONY 
OF HISTORY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF NE- 
GROES IN WAR. 

IN the remaining portions of this narrative, some ac- 
count will be given of Lunsford's life and conduct 
at the beginning of the present rebellion. So inti- 
mately are the interests of the colored race connected 
therewith that the history and progress of the one can- 
not be considered without the other. Few persons in 
the community are willing wholly to ignore the question 
as to what shall be done with the four million persons 
in bondage. Whether right or wrong, the irrepressible 

202 



THE REBELLION OP SLAVE-HOLDERS. 203 

desire, on the part of these colored children of the South, 
for freedom, is forcing itself upon us in many ways, by 
their actual appearance in multitudes in the Free States, 
as our armies advance into the domain of slavery, or 
svi^arming on the Southern coast, whenever our victori- 
ous forces compel the retirement of their owners. 

What shall be done with four million slaves, is the 
question on thousands of lips. Will they labor as freed- 
men for a living ? Can we ever educate them so that 
they shall not be continual pensioners upon our bounty ? 
And, finally, the question is forced upon us. Will they 
fight for their freedom, since the slave-holders of the 
South still continue their rebellion to keep them in 
bondage ? 

Lunsford Lane, at this time residing in Worcester, 
endeavored, both in public and in private, to answer 
some of these questions. His long residence at the 
South, and his extensive acquaintance with persons of 
his race, made him in some sense a representative of 
tlieir views. To this end he visited a number of towns, 
and, where he was kindly received and a hall could be 
obtained, he lectured. 

The present writer was at that time residing in Wil- 
kinsonville, where he first made the acquaintance of 
Lunsford, and so much interested did he become in liis 
history that he is only fulfilling a promise then made, 
that at some time he would endeavor to make more 
public the foregoing history. Dr. Lane, at the same 
time, gave a lecture in the hall of that village, which 
was very well attended, and with which the people were 
much pleased. His remarks evinced a practical good 



204 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

sense which all seemed to appreciate. He spoke sub- 
stantially as follows : - — 

" The wishes of the colored people are much misun- 
derstood by their friends North and South. We de- 
sire, in the first place, freedom in its truest and best 
sense, — not a mere license to do as we please. Hav- 
ing secured this, we wish to be situated so as to be prof- 
itably employed, so as to benefit the State as well as 
ourselves. We have no desire to remain in the 
Northern States, except as a temporary place of refuge 
from slavery. This is not our native climate. We 
love warmer suns and a more productive soil. Here 
our offspring wither and die. They revive and flourish 
under the warmer skies of the South. As soon as 
peace is concluded, and security for life and limb is 
guaranteed, we would return to a clime so well suiting 
our constitutions. In North Carolina alone, there are 
thousands of acres of unoccupied lands, which might 
be made to flourish under the diligent culture of the 
black man. We could occupy these lands as tenants or 
as owners, adding largely to the annual productions of 
cotton, rice, wheat, and vegetables. 

"In a state of freedom, our wives and daughters 
would not be employed in the rough out-door labor of 
the men, as now. They would drop the spade, the 
hoe, and the plough, and attend more to the duties of 
home in the rearing of our neglected offspring, giving 
far more attention to their cleanliness and comfort. 
We know they are ignorant. We would want schools 
and teachers, where they may be taught lessons of mor- 
als as well as of industry. The railroads of the South 



LUNSFORD LECTURES UPON THE SUBJECT. 205 

have employed nearly as many females, old and young, 
in their construction, as men. The pick, the shovel, 
and the cart, have been operated equally by the females. 
This should not be. Our children are thus neglected, 
and grow up as ignorant as the brutes. 

" We want more freedom for Northern teachers and 
religious instructors to visit the South, that they 
may spread before us the life-giving pages of God's 
Word. Heretofore, ignorance and prejudice have al- 
most banished these devoted men from the holy labors 
to which they were willing to devote their lives. We 
have no desire to leave the United States for a resi- 
dence in the British Provinces, under a government with 
which we are not acquainted ; nor to emigrate to Libe- 
ria, or to the West Indies. The South is our home ; 
and we feel that there we can be happy, and contribute 
by our industry to the prosperity of our race, and leave 
the generation that succeeds us wiser and better. No 
greater mistake can, therefore, ]3e made than to sup- 
pose that we desire to come North. We only desire a 
secure freedom in the South. We hope not oidy to 
support ourselves, but to add greatly to the wealth of 
the country, in the way of exports of surplus corn, and 
cotton, rice, and sugar. We expect to be more decently 
clothed ourselves, and to purchase more and valuable 
articles from the industrious and mechanical North. 
The old, clumsy implements of agriculture that have 
been a source of weariness these many years we shall 
throw away, and purchase of Massachusetts her hoes 
and ploughs and rakes and cultivators and mowing- 
machines. Our men and women in the field will then 

18 



206 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

have clothing enough to cover their nakedness ; not as 
now abashing the modesty of the refined and virtuous. 
The old ' quarters ' and the rude, uncomfortable cabin, 
will give place to more convenient and healthy houses. 
We shall provide for our famihes more healthy and 
nourishing food. The provender heretofore has been 
chiefly corn and bacon, — not such bacon as we find 
here at the North. The swine of the South are a far 
different race from that known at the North. There 
the herds run wild in the woods, subsisting upon roots 
and nuts. A few weeks before Christmas, the whole herd 
is with difficulty driven into a pen in the open air, to 
consume a certain number of bushels of corn in the ear 
or on the stalk. After being cured in the great smoke- 
house, the sides are dealt out, in rations of from two to 
four pounds per week, to the slaves. This, with the 
peck of corn, constitutes their subsistence weekly, from 
year to year. We do not expect or need luxuries ; but 
we hope, in the good time coming, to add to the above 
good healthy bread and butter and milk. Tea and 
coffee, bemg unknown articles in the cabin, would then 
be in demand. There is no branch of biLsiness or of 
commerce which would not be benefited by our eleva- 
tion and industry. Millions of acres, now wortlaless, 
would be made to bud and blossom as the rose." 

Thus Lunsford sought, in a very unpretending way, 
to awaken a renewed interest in the colored race ; hop- 
ing that advantage might be taken of this rebeUion, by 
which great blessings might be conferred upon his un- 
fortunate brethren in the South, who, unlike himself, 
were yet in bondage. He continued these and other 



THE WELLINGTON HOSPITAL. 207 

labors as he could, until an event occurred which 
brought him into an entirely new relation. 

Deep were the sympathies aroused by the fearful car- 
nage of civil war ; thousands were made sick by the 
sudden change of life and diet, and many of these 
found in T. W. Wellington, of Worcester, a true 
and generous friend. The Massachusetts sick and 
wounded, at an early stage of the war did not receive 
that amount of care needed to preserve life. They 
were languishing in the hospitals near the seat of 
war, or in Washington, when a little more attention to 
their- wants, and a change of climate to one nearer 
home, it was hoped, would be instrumental in saving 
the lives of these patriotic men. Mr. Wellington early 
saw that something must be done, and that there was 
no time for delay. With no desire for displa}^ and in a 
quiet manner, he secured a roomy house at No. 110 
Mason Street, Worcester, which he opened on the 20th 
of August, 1862. Having known Lunsford Lane suffi- 
ciently to feel entire confidence in him, he placed him 
as steward over the hospital, into which his family re- 
moved. Mr. Wellington's intention at first was to 
receive the sick and wounded from the battle-field, and 
so communicated his intention to the Secretary of War ; 
but the War Department, from various prudential rea- 
sons, refused to have the soldiers removed to hospitals 
in their respective States. 

Mr. Wellington immediately determined to receive 
those who became sick or disabled in the various camps 
of instruction in the State. The building was provided 
at his own expense, and was pleasantly situated, and 



208 BIEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

furnished with every convenience for the ease and com- 
fort of the invaUd. Spring beds and soft mattresses 
were not wanting. The best medical aid the city 
afforded was employed. The steward and his family, 
Mr. Lane and wife and two daughters, were constant in 
their attendance and care in the duties of nursmg. A 
better selection could not have been made than this. 
A more thorough and whole-souled devotion to the 
wants of men suffering in a holy cause is seldom seen. 
The numerous letters received by Mr. Welluigton from 
those who had recovered their health and were per- 
mitted to join their commands on the battle-field were 
most gratifying. These letters were especially pleasmg 
to Mr. Lane, as they often spoke of his faithfulness and 
the many kind acts they had experienced at his hands 
and from his family. 

Although Mr. Wellington was disappointed by the 
rigid rules adopted by the War Department, at Wash- 
ington, in not permitting the sick and disabled who 
were near the seat of war to be cared for in their own 
States, he found ample opportunity for the exercise of 
benevolence near home. The whole number received 
into the hospital, during the five months it was in oper- 
ation, was between fifty and sixty. These, it will be 
remembered, were sick and disabled soldiers from the 
camps in the State. Recruiting in this State had nearly 
ceased in the fall, and the regiments in camp had 
marched to the seat of war. The Wellington Hospital 
was therefore left without patients, from want of mate- 
rial at home to work upon. Notwithstanding, the hospi- 
tal was kept open and his steward and family employed 



COLOEED MEN AND THE GOVERNMENT. 209 

for a number of months, hoping that the order at 
Washington might be revoked or modified, and allow 
the soldiers suffering in the hospitals around Washing- 
ton to be cared for by the generosity of their fellow- 
citizens. 

The alacrity with which the colored people througli- 
out the country have aided the government in the care 
of the sick, and in the various duties in camp and on 
the march, is worthy of great praise. They seem 
fully to understand that one great result of the war is 
to benefit them, and hence they are willing to offer 
themselves freely upon the altar of their country. 

It was the part of wisdom that the government of 
the United States should take advantage of the friendly 
feeling of the colored people, amounting as it did to 
the most decided loyalty, and thus render available 
their good offices in the restoration of the Union and 
the suppression of the rebellion. 

The policy of the government in reference to the per- 
sons of African descent is now most decided, and the 
Proclamation of Emancipation is now daily being 
enforced. 

William Whiting, Esq., Solicitor to the War Depart- 
ment, in response to an invitation to address the con- 
vention of colored citizens at Poughkeepsie, has written 
a letter, important from the information it contains 
and the official assurances which it conveys. We quote 
the concludmg portions, as setting forth the determina- 
tion of the government as to their future treatment of 
a large and important class of our citizens : — 

18* 



210 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" On the 22d of May the War Department issued a 
general order (No. 143) establisliing a bureau in the 
Adjutant General's office for the organization of col- 
ored regiments, whereby the system of employing them 
as a part of the forces of the United States has become 
a fixed and permanent policy of the government. That 
pohcy, sanctioned by Congress, carried into practical 
effect by the government, has been approved by the 
general consent of wise and patriotic men. The coun- 
try cannot afford to lose the aid of its best and chief 
supporters in the South. 

" The employment of colored troops, it is true, was 
in the beginning experimental. The law of 1862, 
which first authorized them to enter the service, pro- 
vided no means of payment. 

" The second law which permitted their emplo5Tiient, 
authorized them to be paid ten dollars a month and 
one ration a day. Tliis law, was, however, made with 
reference to those who by force of arms, or by provisions 
of statutes, had been recently freed from bondage. 

" The important class of colored soldiers from the 
Fi-ee States were probably not in the contemplation of 
Congress when framing these acts. But now, while 
colored men are admitted to be citizens of several of 
the Northern States, and of the United States, and 
since the Conscription Act makes no distinction between 
wiiite and colored citizens, but requires them equally 
to be em"olled and drafted in the forces of tlie United 
States, there seems to be no reason why such citizens 
should not, when volunteering to serve the country, be 



MR. whiting's letter. 211 

placed upon the same footing with other soldiers, as re- 
gards their pay and bounty. 

" The attention of Congress will be directed to this 
subject, and from the generous manner in which they 
have treated the soldiers heretofore, it cannot be 
doubted that they will honor themselves by doing full 
justice to those of every color who rally round the 
Union flag in time of public danger. 

" But I do not forget that the colored soldiers are not 
fighting for pay. They will not let their enemies re- 
proach them with being mean, as well as cowardly. 
They will not lose this, their first chance, to vindicate 
their right to be called and treated as men. Pay or no 
pay, they will rally round that banner of freedom 
which shall soon float over a country that contains no 
slaves within its borders. 

" The policy of the government is fixed and immov- 
able. Congress has passed the irrevocable acts of 
emancipation. The Supreme Court of the United 
States have unanimously decided that, since July 13, 
1861, we have been engaged in a territorial civil war, 
and have full belligerent rights against the inhabitants 
of the rebellious districts. The President has issued 
proclamations under his hand and seal. Abraham Lin- 
coln takes no backward step. A man once made free 
by law cannot be again made a slave. The govern- 
ment has no power, if it had the will, to do it. Om- 
nipotence alone can reenslave a freeman. Fear not 
that the administi'ation will ever take the back track. 
The President wishes the aid of all Americans of what- 
ever descent or color, to defend the country. He 



212 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

wishes every citizen to share the perils of the contest, 
and to reap the fruits of victory. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" William Whiting. 
" Edward Gilbert, Esq., New York City." 

One of the great obstacles in the way of employing 
colored men in the army as soldiers was the prejudice 
entertained by the white officers and soldiers against 
their color. Besides, they had a contempt as to their 
ability and courage in battle. They were lazy and 
cowardly. Nothing but actual experiment will over- 
throw these prejudices now, as they have in the past. 
The annals of our American Revolution teach us that 
when, in great extremities, we were compelled to em- 
ploy them as soldiers, this confidence was not mis- 
placed, and their heroic conduct was far better than we 
anticipated. We have perused with great interest the 
historical research respecting the opinions of the found- 
ers of the Republic on negroes as slaves, as citizens, and 
as soldiers, by George Livermore. It was read, before 
the Massachusetts Historical Society, in August 14, 
1862.* To give even a brief synopsis of this able 
work, which exhibits so clearly the industry of the 
compiler, would swell the present volume beyond the 
limits designed. We therefore append the remarks of 
a writer in the Boston Journal, which embrace some 
" additional and striking facts to those found in that 
volume." 

* This work has reached a thu-d edition, and is published by the New Eng- 
land Loyal Publication Society, by A. Williams & Company, 100 Washington 
Street, 18G3. 



EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES IN WAR. 213 

"• The government of the United States in avaihng 
itself of the military services of a 'servile' portion of the 
inhabitants, not only followed the precedents established 
by the Spartans, the Athenians, the Parthians, and the 
Romans, bnt has carried out a policy inaugurated long 
ago in that famous commonwealth which now so arro- 
gantly claims precedence in the rebel brotherhood, as 
the sovereign State of South Carolina. We invite the 
attention of those here at the North who denounce -the 
arming of negroes, to the following statement of facts : 

" 1704. The House of Assembly of the Province of 
South Carolina passed ' an act for the raising and enlist- 
ing such slaves as shall be thought serviceable to this 
Province in time of alarms.' 

" 1709. A similar act was passed, the preamble of 
which is as follows : ' Whereas, It is necessary for the 
safety of the province, in case of actual invasion, to 
have the assistance of our trusty slaves to serve us 
against our enemies,' &c. It provides for the enlist- 
ment of a number of slaves, not exceeding that of 
white men, in the several companies, ' armed out of the 
public stores with a good lance and hatchet, or gun, 
excepting one man slave, which shall be at the choice 
of his master, to attend upon him, armed with a gun 
and hatchet, or cutlass, at his own proper cost and 
charge.' — S. C. Statutes at large, vii. p. 349. 

"1708. In a report on the general condition of the 
Province, we have the following statement : ' The 
whole number of the militia of this Province is nine 
hundred and fifty white men fit to bear arms, viz. : two 
rcgunents of foot, both making up sixteen companies, 



214 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

fifty men, one with another, in a company, to which 
might be added a like number of negro slaves, the cap- 
tain of each company being obliged, by an act of As- 
sembly, to enlist, train up, and bring into the field, for 
each white ^ one able slave, armed with a gun or lance, 
for each man in his company. '^ — Riveras History of 
South Carolina, p. 233. 

" 1715. The Yemassee Indians having commenced 
hostilities against South Carolina, the Assembly 'Re- 
solved, That a sufficient number of lances be made im- 
mediately to arm the negroes who caimot bo supplied 
with guns in the present expedition.' — River's His- 
tory of South Carolina, p. 267. 

^' 1739-40. Provision was made by the Assembly for 
the payment of slaves ' engaged in the public service ' 
on the expedition of Gen. Oglethorpe. They are de- 
scribed as ' pioneers.' — S. C. Stats, at large, vii. p. 428. 

" 1742. Negroes were ' enlisted and sent on the ex- 
pedition for the relief of Georgia.' They were ' on 
board the vessels fitted out by government.' 

" The ' war policy ' thus inaugurated by the South 
Carolinians was not only adhered to by them during 
the Revolutionary War, but it was adopted by Wash- 
ington, as it was subsequently, in the war of 1812, by 
Jackson, and by Gov. Moore, of Louisiana, at the com- 
mencement of the rebellion ; and all who are familiar 
with the writings of those who fomented the secession 
movement know well that the slave-holders were in- 
spired with the belief that their ' chattels ' would prove 
faithful allies. For example, W. Gilmore Simms, in his 
Pro-slavery Argument, p. 244, says, — 



EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES IN WAR. 215 

"*The British did encourage them (the slaves) to 
take up arms, and undertook to form separate bands 
of negro troops, to uniform them m scarlet, and furnish 
them with arms ; yet succeeded in ^ persuading only a 
single regiment into their ranks. The entire mass of 
the slave population adhered, with unshaken fidelity, 
to their masters ; numbers accompanied them to the 
field, and fought at their sides, while the greater body 
faithfully pursued their labors on the plantations, never 
deserting them in trial, danger, or privation ; and this 
decoriun and fidelity were shown at a time when, to 
the presence of a foreign foe was added the greater 
curse of an unspaidng civil war before their eyes, and 
among their own masters.' 

'' The South was not only led to count on a renewal 
of this devoted allegiance of the slaves (for which no 
gratitude had been manifested by the masters), but 
they regarded the ' institution ' as an element of 
strength which the North would not possess in the con- 
test where they anticipated victory. ' Northern civili- 
zation,' said one of their leaders, 'walks upon the 
crutches of hireling labor, which is always antagonistic 
to capital, and may at any moment be knocked from 
under it. Southern civilization is like Homer's Vulcan, 
who was supported by two young slave-maidens, living 
crutches upon which the lame artificer moved nimbly 
whithersoever he wished ; and on them he leaned when 
he went to the anvil on which was forged the armor of 
men and gods.' Those beguiled by this reasoning 
must now begin to see, that while the North is sup- 
ported by industry and capital, firm and erect, she is 



216 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

also knocking away the crutches of her tottering, way- 
ward sister, and using them effectively in punishing 
rebellion. Thanks to South Carolina for having sug- 
gested the enlisting of swarthy recruits ; and we would 
advise those who have, and those who are, denouncing 
President Lincoln for employing persons of African 
descent, to post themselves up in the history of the 
chivalry. 

'•' There are indications that the people of the South 
begin to find that the high-colored pictures which had 
been placed before them, of the fidelity and devotion of 
their slaves, did not truthfully portray what has subse- 
quently occurred, and that they were no more reliable 
than were the promises of Massachusetts and other New 
England Democrats, that they ' would take care of the 
North.' The deluded owners of ' chattels ^ had ex- 
pected that every ' boy ' would follow the plougli, to 
provide sustenance for rebel hordes, or would exclaim, 
as does Adam to Orlando, in 'As You like It,' — 

' Master, go on ; and I will follow thee 
To tbe last gasp, with truth and loyalty.' 

" Each dusky ally was to aid in perpetuating his own 
enslavement and that of his race, devoted as was the 
dog Argus, described by Homer as struggling to ap- 
proach the weeping Ulysses, and dying at his master's 
feet. Had they read history rather than De Bow's Re- 
view, they would have remembered Gate's sayhig: 
' Our slaves are our enemies ; ' for although Seneca en- 
deavored to refute the assertion, quot servi tot hostes is 
a maxim not to be forgotten ; and thus falls another of 



EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES IN WAE. 217 

the theories which propped up the new political edifice, 
' whose corner-stone is slavery ; ' it will tumble to pieces, 
and the glorious Union will be reestablished. Mean- 
while, it is (to quote from the statutes of South Caro- 
lina) ' necessary for the safety ' of our Republic that 
our armies should have ' the assistance ' of able-bodied 
colored men ' to serve us against our enemies.'' Every 
loyal citizen should be grateful to South Carolina for 
having originated this portion of our war policy, which 
bids fair to insure a restoration of peace, and might 
say, as did Gratiano to Shylock in the court-room, — 

" ' I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.' " 



CHAPTER XIII. 



• Sound for the onset! Blast on blasti 

Till slavery's minions cower and quail : 
One charge of fire shall drive them fast, 

Like chaff before our Northern galel 
Oh, prisoners in your house of pain. 

Dumb, toiling millions, bound and sold, 
Look ! stretched o'er Southern vale and plain, 

The Lord's delivering hand behold I " 



THE CHILDREN OF LUNSFORD ENTERING THE RANKS OF THE 
LOYAL HOST FOR UNION AND FREEDOM -THE FIFTY-FOURTH 
REGIMENT OF IVIASSACHUSETTS COLORED VOLUNTEERS — 
THEIR ORGANIZATION AND DEPARTURE — SPEECHES OF GOV. 
ANDREW AND COL. SHAW — THEIR EVENTFUL HISTORY IN 
THE FIELD -THEIR BRAVERY IN THE CONFLICT - THEIR 
PATIENT SUFFERING IN THE HOSPITALS AT BEAUFORT— THE 
QUESTION SETTLED, THE "NEGRO" WILL FIGHT. 

THE children of Lunsford Lane were all born within 
the domain of slavery, and, but for the heroic life 
of the father, would this day be in bonds. Two of these 
children, William and Lunsford, are now at Port Royal, 
South Carolina, serving their country, upon one of the 
United States transports, conveying troops for the sup- 
pression of the slave-holders' rebellion. A letter re- 
ceived by their father a few days since, from these 
boys, breathes words of patriotism, as they witnessed 
the enlistment of the freedmen in our army. They 
speak of their determination, on their return, to enlist in 
the Fifty-fourth Regiment of colored volunteers of Mas- 

218 



MASSACHUSETTS COLORED VOLUNTEERS. 219 

sachusetts. Thus the sons of escaped slaves are ren- 
dering powerful aid in the suppression of this wicked 
rebellion, and in the emancipation of their race. 

The organization, equipment, and departure, of the 
Fifty-fourth Regiment of colored troops to the seat of 
war is now a matter of history. The conduct displayed 
in the storming of the fortifications on Morris Island 
is deserving of a much fuller account than can now be 
given. It may throw some light upon this interesting 
subject, should we collect the statements of the press of 
the recent events connected with its departure, and its 
eventful history at the seat Of war. It is not expected 
that the information here given is in every particular 
correct ; in the haste of journalism many mistakes are 
made, which official documents only can correct. The 
time occupied in the enlistment of this regiment was 
very brief after the official order for its organization 
had been received by Governor Andrew. The rapidity 
with which the drill was acquired was particularly no- 
ticeable. The good order and discipline of the men — 
far exceeding some of the white regiments that have 
gone from our populous cities — was another praise- 
worthy feature. 

The deep interest manifested in its well-being and 
future conduct was evinced by the multitudes who 
daily visited their camp at Readville. Colonel Shaw, 
its brave and patriotic commander, left nothing undone 
which could add to its efficiency and success. Previously 
to its departure from Readville, a large number of its 
friends gathered to witness the presentation of the regi- 
mental colors. We glean from the Boston Journal the 
following account of this interesting event : — 



220 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" The ranks of the Fifty-fourth Kegiment having been 
filled, the presentation of regimental colors took place 
yesterday noon at their camp at Readville, and was 
attended with a ceremony of unusual brilliancy and 
effect. The morning train to Readville was not only 
completely filled with a numerous gathering of prom- 
inent individuals who have been interested in the 
formation of the regiment, but nine or ten extra pas- 
senger-cars were required to accommodate the hun- 
dreds of colored persons, of both sexes, who have a 
personal interest in the Fifty-fourth. The party com- 
prised a very large number who have been prominent 
in the community for sympathy with the oppressed 
negro. Among them were Wendell Phillips, William 
Lloyd Garrison, Josiah Quincy, Jr., Rev. Dr. Neale, 
and several noted gentlemen of the clerical and med- 
ical professions. A large number of ladies, friends of 
the officers, drawn in elegant turn-outs, added brilliancy 
to the ceremony. Altogether, upward of a thousand 
people were present. The presentation speech was 
made by Governor Andrew, who was accompanied by 
his military staff in uniform. 

" The regiment was formed in a hollow square, the 
distinguished persons present occupying the centre. 
The flags were four in number, comprising a national 
flag, presented by young colored ladies of Boston ; a 
national ensign, presented by the ' Colored Ladies' Re- 
lief Society;' an emblematic banner, presented by 
ladies and gentlemen of Boston, friends of the regi- 
ment ; and a flag presented by relatives and friends of 
the late Lieutenant Putnam. The emblematic banner 



THEIR ORGANIZATION AND DEPARTURE. 221 

was of white silk, handsomely embroidered, having on 
one side a figure of the Goddess of Justice, with the 
words ' Liberty, Loyalty, and Unity,' around it. The 
fourth flag bore a cross with a blue field, surmounted 
with the motto, 'In hoc signo vinces' All were of the 
finest texture and workmanship. 

"Prayer having been offered by Rev. Mr. Grimes, 
Governor Andrew presented the various flags with the 
following speech : — 

"PRESENTATION SPEECH OF GOVERNOR ANDREW. 

" CoL. Shaw : As the official representative of the 
commonwealth, and by favor of various ladies and gen- 
tlemen, citizens of the commonwealth, and friends of 
the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, 
I have the honor and the satisfaction of being permitted 
to join you this morning, for the purpose of presentmg 
to your regiment the National flag, the State colors of 
Massachusetts, and the emblematic banner which the 
cordial, generous, and patriotic friendship of its patrons 
has seen fit to present to you. 

" Two years of experience in all the trials and vicis- 
situdes of war, attended with the repeated exhibition 
of Massachusetts regiments marching from home to the 
scenes of strife, have left little to be said or suggested 
which could give the interest of novelty to an occasion 
like this. But, Mr. Commander, one circumstance per- 
taining to the composition of the Fifty-fourth Regiment, 
exceptional in its character when compared with any- 
thing we have yet seen before, gives to this hour an 
interest and importance, solemn and yet grand, because 

19* 



222 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

the occasion marks an era in the history of the war, of 
the commonwealth, of the country, and of humanity. I 
need not dwell upon the fact that the enlisted men con- 
stituting the rank and file of the Fifty-fourth Regiment 
of Massachusetts volunteers are drawn from a race not 
hitherto connected with the fortunes of the war. And 
yet I cannot forbear to allude to the circumstance, be- 
cause I can but contemplate it for a brief moment, 
since it is uppermost in your thoughts, and since this 
regiment, which for many months has been the desire 
of my own heart, is present now before this vast assem- 
bly of friendly citizens of Massachusetts, prepared to 
vindicate by its future, as it has already begun to do by 
its brief history of camp-life here, — to vindicate in its 
own person, and in the presence, I trust, of all who 
belong to it, the character, the manly character, the 
zeal, the manly zeal, of the colored citizens of Massa- 
chusetts, and of those other States which have cast their 
lot with ours. 

" I owe to you, Mr. Commander, and to the officers 
who, associated with you, have assisted in the forma- 
tion of this noble corps, composed of men selected from 
among their fellows for fine qualities of manhood, — I 
owe to you, sir, and to those of your associates who 
united with me in the original organization of this 
body, the heartiest and most emphatic expression of my 
cordial thanks. I shall follow you, Mr. Commander, 
your officers, and your men, with a friendly and per- 
sonal solicitude, to say nothing of official care, which 
can hardly be said of any other corps which has 
marched from Maseachusetts. My own personal honor, 



SPEECH OF GOVEENOR ANDREW. 223 

if I have any, is identified with yours. I stand or fall, 
as a man and a magistrate, with the rise or fall in 
the history of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment. 
(Applause.) I pledge not only in behalf of myself, but 
of all those whom I have the honor to represent to-day, 
the utmost generosity, the utmost kindness, the utmost 
devotion of hearty love, not only for the cause, but for 
you that represent it. We will follow your fortunes 
in the camp and in the field, with the anxious eyes of 
brethren, and the proud hearts of citizens. 

" To those men of Massachusetts and of surrounding 
States, who have now made themselves citizens of Mas- 
sachusetts, I have no word to utter fit to express the 
emotions of my heart. These men, sir, have now, in 
the providence of God, given to them an opportunity 
which, while it is personal to themselves, is still an op- 
portunity for a whole race of men. (Applause.) With 
arms possessed of might to strike a blow, they have 
found breathed into their hearts an inspiration of de- 
voted patriotism and regard for their brethren of their 
own color, which has inspired them with a purpose to 
nerve that arm, that it may strike a blow, which, while 
it shall help to raise aloft their country's flag, — their 
country's flag now as well as ours, — by striking down 
the foes which oppose it, strikes also the last blow, I 
trust, needful to rend the last shackles which bind the 
limb of the bondman in the Rebel States. 

" I know not, Mr. Commander, when, in all human 
history, to any given thousand men in arms there has 
been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, 
so full of hope and glory, as the work committed to 



224 MEMOIR OF LtJNSFORD LANE. 

you. (Applause.) And may the infinite mercy of 
Almighty God attend you every hour of every day, 
through all the experiences and vicissitudes of that 
dangerous life in which you have embarked ; may the 
God of our fathers cover your heads in the day of bat- 
tle ; may he shield you with the arms of everlasting 
power ; may he hold you always most of all, first of all, 
and last of all, up to the highest and holiest conception 
of duty, so that if, on the field of stricken fight, your 
souls shall be delivered from the thraldom of the flesh, 
your spirits shall go home to God, bearing aloft the ex- 
ulting thought of duty well performed, of glory and 
reward won, even at the hands of the angels who shall 
watch over you from above. 

" Mr. Commander : You, sir, and most of your offi- 
cers, have been carefully selected from among the most 
intelligent and experienced officers who have already 
performed illustrious service upon the field during the 
last two years of our national conflict. I need not say, 
sir, with how much confidence and with how much 
pride we contemplate the leadership which we know 
this regiment will receive at your hands. In yourself, 
sir, your staff, and line officers, we are enabled to de- 
clare a confidence which knows no hesitation and no 
doubt. Whatever fortune may betide you, we know 
from the past that all will be done for the honor of the 
cause, for the protection of the flag, for the defence of 
the right, for the glory of your country, and for the 
safety and the honor of these men whom we commit to 
you, that shall lie either in the human heart, or braii, 
or arm. 



SPEECH OF GOVERNOR ANDREW. 225 

" And now, Mr. Commander, it is my most agreeable 
duty and high honor to hand to you, as the representa- 
tion of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Vol- 
unteers, the American flag, ' the star-spangled banner ' 
of the Republic. Wherever its folds shall be unfurled, 
it will mark the path of glory. Let its stars be the in- 
spiration of yourselves, your officers, and your men. 
As the gift of the young ladies of the city of Boston to 
their brethren in arms, they will cherish it as the lover 
cherishes the recollection and fondness of his mistress ; 
and the white stripes of its field will be red with their 
blood before it shall be surrendered to the foe. 

" I have also the honor, Mr. Commander, to present 
to you the State colors of Massachusetts, — the State 
colors of the Old Bay State, borne already by fifty-three 
regiments of Massachusetts soldiers, white men, thus 
far, now to be borne by the Fifty-fourth Regiment of sol- 
diers, not less of Massachusetts than the others. What- 
ever may be said, ]Mr. Commander, of any other flag 
which has ever kissed the sunlight or been borne on 
any field, I have the pride and honor to be able to de- 
clare before you, your regiment, and these witnesses, 
that from the beginning up till now, the State colors of 
Massachusetts have never been surrendered to any foe. 
(Cheers.) The Fifty-fourth now holds in possession this 
sacred charge, in the performance of their duties as citi- 
zen-soldiers. You will never part with that flag so long 
as a splmter of the staff, or a thread of its web remains 
witliin your grasp. The State colors are presented to 
the Fifty-fourth by the Relief Society composed of col- 
ored ladies of Boston. 



226 MEMOIE OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

"And now let me conunlt to you this splendid em- 
blematic banner. It is prepared for your acceptance 
by a large and patriotic committee representing many 
others beside, ladies and gentlemen of Boston, to whose 
hearty sympathy, and powerful cooperation and aid, 
much of the success which has hitherto attended the 
organization of tliis regiment is due. The Goddess of 
Liberty, erect in beautiful guise and form, liberty, 
loyalty, and unity, are the emblems it bears. The 
Goddess of Liberty shall be the lady-love whose fair 
presence sliall inspire your hearts. Liberty, Loyalty, 
Unity, — the watchwords in the fight. 

"And now, Mr. Commander, the sacred, holy cross, 
representing passion, the highest heroism, I scarcely 
dare to trust myself to present to you. It is the em- 
blem of Christianity. I have pai'ted with the emblems 
of the State, of the Nation ; heroic, patriotic emblems 
they are, — dear, inexpressibly dear, to all our hearts ; 
but now, 'Li hoc signo vinces^^ the cross wliicli repre- 
sents the passion of our Lord, I now dare to pass into 
your soldier-hands ; for we are fighting now a battle 
not merely for countTy, not merely for humanity, not 
only for civilization, but for the religion of our Lord 
itself. When tins cause shall ultimately fail, if ever 
failm-e at the last shall be possible, it will only fail 
when the last patriot, the last philantlu'opLst, and the 
last Christian, shall have tasted death, and left no de- 
scendants behind them upon the soil of Massachusetts. 

" This flag, Mr. Commander, has connected with its 
history the most toucliing and sacred memory. It 
comes to your regiment fi'om the mother, sister, friends, 



RESPONSE OF COLONEL SHAW. 227 

family relatives of one of the dearest and noblest sol- 
dier-boys of Massachusetts. I need not utter the name 
of Lieutenant Putnam in order to excite in every heart 
the tenderest emotions of fond regard or the strongest 
feelings of patriotic fire. May you, sir, and these, fol- 
low not only on the field of battle, but in all the walks 
and ways of life, in camp, and hereafter when on re- 
turnmg peace you shall resume the more quiet and 
peaceful duties of citizens, — may you but follow the 
splendid example, the sweet devotion, mmgied with 
manly, heroic character, of which the life, character, 
and death of Lieutenant Putnam was one example. 
How many more there ai^ we know not ; the record is 
not yet complete ; but oh ! how many there are of these 
Massachusetts sons who, like liim, have tasted death for 
this immortal cause ! Inspu'ed by such examples, fired 
by the heat and light of love and faith, which illumined 
and warmed these heroic and noble hearts, may you, 
sir, and these march on to glory, to victory, and to 
every honor. This flag I present to you, Mr. Com- 
mander, and your regiment. In hoc signo vinces, 

"EESPONSE OP COLONEL SHAW. 

"Your Excellency: We accept these flags with 
feelings of deep gratitude. They will remind us not 
only of the cause we are fighting for and of our coun- 
try, but of the friends we have left belund us who have 
thus far taken so much interest in tliis regiment, and 
who we know will follow us m oui^ career. Though 
the greater luimber of men in this regiment are not 
Massachusetts men, I know there is not one who will 



228 MEJIOIR OF LUNSFOED LANE. 

not be proud to fight and serve under our flag. May 
we have an opportunity to show that you have not 
made a mistake in intrustmg the honor of the State to 
a colored regiment, — the first State tlmt has sent one 
to the war. 

"I am very glad to have this opportunity to thank 
the officers and men of the regiment for their untirmg 
fidelity and devotion to their work from the very begin- 
ning. They have shown that sense of the importance 
of our undertaking, without which we should hardly 
have attained our end. 

"At the conclusion of CoL Shaw's remarks, the colors 
were borne to their place in the Ime by the guard, and 
the regiment was reviewed by the governor. The regi- 
ment will joiii Gen. Hunter's conmiand in South Caro- 
lina, as soon as transportation can be arranged. It will 
probably embark from Boston." 

The interest gatliered about this regiment seemed to 
increase as the day of its departure drew near. Every 
ardent friend of the colored man felt that its future 
conduct would, in a great measure, determine the capa- 
city of the colored race for freedom, and its ability 
and coiu-age in mamtauiing it. Should they act like 
cowardly children on the field of battle, in a war waged 
on one side for their perpetual bondage, and on the 
other for the purpose of breaking the oppressor's arm, 
well might their friends be discouraged. And yet, even 
theh^ failure to equal, in intelligent bravery, the white 
race fighting at their side, would not give the more 
powerful a right to enslave them. Thousands, there- 



THEIR DEPAETUEE, 229 

fore, followed them with an intense interest, as they left 
our peaceful State to enter the fierce ordeal of an active 
campaign against the foe of the country. 

Li describing their departure, the Worcester Daily 
Spy made the following statements : — 

"This regiment left for the seat of war, May 28, 
after receivmg a splendid ovation from the citizens of 
Boston, as well as from the people who happened to 
be present from other parts of the State and country, 
to attend the anniversaries. The day was exceeding 
pleasant ; and when the regiment arrived at the depot 
from Readville, thousands of persons were present to 
receive them, who testified their admiration by loud 
and continuous applause. The regiment, escorted by 
Gilmore's National Band, then took up their line of 
march, and passed through several of the principal 
streets, amid applause and the wa\dng of handker- 
chiefs, to the State House, where they were joined by 
Governor Andrew, accompanied by his staff, the State 
officers, members of the executive council, and many 
distinguished men from all parts of the iState. The 
procession then marched to the Common, where the 
regiment was reviewed by the governor and staff, in the 
presence of an immense concourse of spectators, num- 
bering, by estimation, over twenty thousand. 

" The appearance of the regiment was highly soldier- 
like and satisfactory, fully equalling the finest regiments 
that have left the State. The reception accorded them 
was all that the most enthusiastic friend of the colored 
race could desire. It was a complete ovation during 
the entire route ; and no sign of disapprobation was vis- 

20 



230 MEMOIE OF LUNSFORD LANE- 

i]}le in the immense crowd. Certainly, the departure 
of the first colored regiment from the North marks an 
era in the history of the war, as well as of the colored 
race. The hopes and prayers of every true patriot 
will go with them to the struggle ; and the thanks of 
every lover of humanity will be given to Governor An- 
drew for the rare moral courage and energy he has 
manifested in carrying out a work so noble, amid the 
doubts of the timid, and the open opposition and ridi- 
cule of the ignorant and base." 

How these soldiers conducted themselves, when, in so 
brief a tuue after their organization, they are ordered 
to storm the enemy's fortifications on Morris Island, 
may be learned from the following reports of correspon- 
dents from the seat of war. When we remember that 
these were raw recruits^ we may with confidence look 
forward to then- still greater efficiency in the future. 

Their departure was on May 28, 1863. The storm- 
ing of Fort Wagner took place in about two months 
thereafter. But we refer the reader to the following 
account contamed in a letter from Edward L. Pierce, 
Esq., addressed to Gov. Andrew, from Beaufort, S. 0. : 

" Beauport, Jul7 22, 1863. 

-" My Dear Sir : You will probably receive an official 
Import of the losses in the 54th Massachusetts by the 
mail which leaves to-morrow ; but perhaps a word from 
me may not be unwelcome, I saw the officers and men 
on James Island on the 13th inst., and on Saturday 
last, saw them at Brig.-Gen. Strong's tent, as they 
passed on, a little before seven in the evening, to Fort 



EVENTFUL HISTORY IN THE FIELD. 231 

Wagner, wliich is some two miles beyond. I had been 
the guest of Gen. Strong, who commanded the advance, 
since Tuesday. Col. Shaw had become attached to 
Gen. Strong at St. Helena, where he was under him, 
and the regard was mutual. When the troops left St. 
Helena they were separated, the 54th going to James 
Island. While it was there. Gen. S. received a letter 
from Col. Shaw, in which the desire was expressed for 
the transfer of the 54th to Gen. S.'s brigade. So, 
when the troops were brought away from James Island, 
Gen. S, took this regiment into his command. It left 
James Island on Thursday, July 16, at nine a. m., and 
marched to Cole's Island, which they reached at four 
o'clock on Friday morning, marching all night, most 
of the way in single file, over swampy and muddy 
ground. There they remained during the day, witli 
hard-tack and coifee for their fare, and this only what 
was left in their haversacks, — not a regular ration. 
From eleven o'clock of Friday evening until four 
o'clock of Saturday, they were bemg put on board the 
transport, the General Hunter, in a boat which took 
about fifty at a time. There they breakfasted on the 
same fare, and had no other food before entering into 
the assault on Fort Wagner in the evening. 

"The General Hunter left Cole's Island for Folly 
Island at six a. m., and the troops landed at the Paw- 
nee landmg about half-past nine a. m., and then 
marched to the point opposite Morris Island, reaching 
there about two 'o'clock in the afternoon. They were 
transported in a steamer across the inlet, and at five 
p. M. began their march for Fort Wagner. They reached 



282 MEMOIE OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

Brig.-Gen. Strong's quarters, about midway on the isl- 
and, about six, or half-past six, where they halted for 
five minutes. I saw them here, and they looked worn 
and weary. 

" Gen. Strong expressed a great desire to give them 
food and stimulants ; but it was too late, as they were 
to lead the charge. They had been without tents dur- 
ing the pelting rains of Thursday and Friday nights. 
Gen. Strong had been impressed with the high character 
of the regiment and its officers, and he wished to assign 
them the post where the most severe work was to be 
done, and the liighest honor was to be won. I had 
been his guest for some days, and knew how he re- 
garded them. The march across Folly and Morris 
Islands was over a very sandy road, and was very weari- 
some. The regiment went through the centre of the 
island, and not along the beach where the marching 
was easier. When they came within six hundred yards 
of Fort Wagner, they formed in line of battle, the colonel 
heading the first, and the major the second, battalion. 
This was within musket-shot of the enemy. There 
was little firing from the enemy, a solid shot falling be- 
tween the battalions, and another falling to the right, 
but no musketry. 

"At this point the regiment, together with the next 
supporting regiments, the 6th Conn., 9th Maine, and 
others, remained half an hour. The regiment was ad- 
dressed by Gen. Strong and Col. Shaw. Then, at half- 
past seven or a quarter before eight o'clock the order 
for the charge was given. The regiment advanced at 
quick time, changed to double-quick when at some dis- 



TTTRTR BRAVERY IN THE CONFLICT. 233 

tance oa. The intervening distance between the place 
where the line was formed and the fort, was run over in 
a few muiutes. When within one or two hundred 
yards of the fort, a terrific fire of grape and musketry 
was poured upon them along the entire line, and witli 
deadly results. It tore the ranks to pieces, and discon- 
certed some. They rallied again, went through the 
ditch, in which was some three feet of water, and then 
up the parapet. They raised the flag on the parapet, 
where it remained for a few minutes. Here they 
melted away before the enemy's fire, their bodies falling 
down the slope and into the ditch. Others will give a 
more detailed and accurate account of what occurred 
during the rest of the conflict. 

" Col. Shaw reached the parapet, leading his men, 
and was probably killed. Adjutant Jones saw him fall. 
Private Thomas Burgess, of Company I, told me that 
he was close to Col. Shaw ; that he waved liis sword 
and cried out, ' Onward, boys ! ' and, as he did so, fell. 
Burgess fell, wounded, at the same tune. In a minute 
or two, as he rose to crawl away, he tried to pull Col. 
Shaw along, taking hold of his feet, which were near 
his own head ; but there appeared to be no life in him. 
Tiiere is a report, however, that Col. S. is wounded and 
a prisoner, and that it was so stated to the officers who 
bore a flag of truce from us ; but I cannot find it well 
authenticated. It is most likely that this noble youth 
has given his life to his country and to mankind. 
Brig.-Gen. Strong (himself a kmdred spnit) said of 
him to-day, in a message to his parents, ' I had but 
little opportunity, to be with hun, but I already loved 

20* 



234 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

him. No man ever went more gallantly into battle. 
None knew him but to love him. I parted with Col. 
Shaw between six and seven Saturday evening, as he 
rode forward to his regiment, and he gave me the pri- 
vate letters and papers he had with him, to be deliyered 
to his father.' Of the other officers. Major Hallowell is 
severely wounded in the groin ; Adjutant James has a 
wound from a rifle-ball in his ankle, and a flesh-wound 
in ' his side, from a glancing ball or piece of shell. 
Captain Pope has had a musket-ball extracted from his 
shoulder. Captain Appleton is wounded in the thumb, 
and also has a contusion on his right breast, from a hand 
grenade, which, however, is not severe. Captain Wil- 
lard has a wound in the leg, and is doing well. Cap- 
tain Jones was wounded in the right shoulder. The 
ball went through, and he is doing well. Lieutenant 
Homans, wounded by a ball from a smooth-bore musket 
entering the left side, which has been extracted from 
the back, is doing well. 

^' The above-named officers are at Beaufort, all but 
the last arriving there on Smiday evening, whither they 
were taken from Folly Island, in the Alice Price, and 
tlience to Beaufort in the Cosmopolitan, which is spe- 
cially fitted up for hospital service, and is provided witli 
skilful surgeons, under the direction of Dr. Montague. 
They are now tenderly cared for with an adequate corps 
of surgeons and nurses, and provided with a plentiful 
supply of ice, beef, and chicken-broth and stimulants. 
Lieut. Smith was left at the hospital-tent on Morris 
Island, being too severely wounded to be brought away. 
Capt. Emilio and Lieuts. Grace, Appleton, Johnston, 



THEIR BRAVERY IN THE CONFLICT. 235 

and Reed were not wounded, and are doing duty. 
Liouts. Jewett and Tucker were slightly wounded, and 
are doing duty also. Lieuts. Howard and Pratt are 
also missing. As to Dexter, I have no information. 
The quartermaster and surgeon are safe, and are with 
the regiment. 

" Dr. Stone remained on the Alice Price during Sat- 
urday night, caring for the wounded, until she left Mor- 
ris Island, and then returned to look after those who 
were left behind. The assistant surgeon was at the 
camp on St. Helena Island, attending to duty there. 
Lieut. Littlefield was also in charge of the camp at St. 
Helena. Capt. Bridge and Lieut. Nalton ar5 sick, and 
were at Beaufort or vicinity. Capt. Partridge has re- 
turned from the North, but not in time to participate 
in the action. 

" Of the privates and non-commissioned officers, I send 
you a list of one hundred and forty-four who are now 
in the Beaufort hospitals. A few others died on the 
boats, or since their arrival here. There may be others 
at the Hilton Head hospital, and others are doubtless 
on Morris Island ; but I have no names or statistics rel- 
ative to them. Those in Beaufort are well attended to, 
— just as well as the white soldiers, — the attentions of 
the surgeons and nurses being supplemented by those 
of the colored people here, who have shown a great 
interest in them. The men of the regiment are very 
patient, and, where their condition at all permits them, 
are cheerful. They expressed their readiness to meet 
the enemy again ; and they keep asking if Wagner is 
yet taken. Could any one from the North see these 



236 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

brave fellows as they lie here, his prejudice against 
them, if he had any, would all pass away. They grieve 
greatly at the loss of Col. Shaw, who seems to have 
acquired a strong hold on their affections. 

"■ They are attached to their other officers, and ad- 
mire Gen. Strong, whose courage was so conspicuous 
to all. I asked Gen. Strong if he had any testimony in 
relation to the regiment, to be communicated to you. 
These are his precise words, and I give them to you as 
I noted them at the time : — 

" ' The 54th did well and nobly, only the fall of Col. 
Shaw prevented them from entering the fort. They 
moved u^ as gallantly as any troops could ; and with 
their enthusiasm they deserved a better fate.' The reg- 
iment could not have been under a better officer than 
Gen. Strong. He is one of the bravest and most genu- 
ine men. His soldiers loved him like a brother, and, 
go where you would through the camps, you would 
hear them speak of him with enthusiasm and affection. 
His wound is severe, and there are some apprehensions 
as to his being able to recover from it. Since I found 
him at the hospital tent on Morris Island, about nine 
and a half o'clock on Saturday, I have been all the 
time attending to him, or the officers of the 54th, both 
on the boats and here. Nobler spirits it has never been 
my fortune to be with. Gen. Strong, as he lay on the 
stretcher in the tent, was grieving all the while for the 
poor fellows who lay uncared-for on the battle-field, and 
the officers of the 54th have had nothing to say of their 
own misfortunes, but have mourned constantly for the 
hero who led them to the charge from which he did not 



THEIR BRAVERY IN THE CONFLICT. 237 

return. I remember well the beautiful day when the 
flags were presented at Readville, and you told the reg- 
iment that your reputation was to be identified with its 
fame. It was a day of festivity and cheer. I walk 
now in these hospitals, and see mutilated forms with 
every variety of wound, and it seems all a dream. But 
well has the regiment sustained the hope which you 
indulged, and justified the identity of fame which you 
trusted to it. 

" I ought to add, in relation to the fight on James 
Island, on July 15, in which the regiment lost fifty men, 
driving back the rebels, and saving, as it is stated, three 
companies of the 10th Connecticut, that Gen. Terry, 
who was in command on that island, said to Adjutant 
James, — 

" ' Tell your colonel that I am exceedingly pleased 
with the conduct of your regiment. They have done 
all they could do.' 

" The 24th Massachusetts was not, as far as I can 
learn, engaged in the fight of Saturday evening. They 
were, however, present. Brig.-Gen. Stevenson marched 
at the head of his brigade, where I saw him as it passed 
along the beach to Fort Wagner. 

" Yours truly, 

" Edward L. Pierce." 

A Port Royal correspondent of the New York Post 
writes as follows of the bravery of the Massachusetts 
Fifty-fourth in battle, and of their fortitude and devo- 
tion afterward, while suffering from wounds : — 

'• On forming them into line, Gen. Strong, who had 



238 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

by his soldierly and kind bearing toward them secured 
their confidence, raising his stentorian voice, cried out, 
'Is there a man here who thinks himself unable to 
sleep in that fort to-night ? ' The earth rang with the 
thunder of their ' No I ' Turning to the color-bearer, 
he said, ' Is there any man to take his place if this 
brave color-bearer should fall ? ' With lifting of hands 
and leaping, and almost yelling, all through the enthu- 
siastic ranks came the response, ' Yes ! Yes ! ' 

" From General Strong himself, as he lay in the hos- 
pital four days afterward, suffering from his ghastly 
wound, I learned that these men had ' had no sleep for 
three nights, no food since morning, and had marched 
several miles.' Under cover of darkness, they stormed 
the fort, facing a stream of fire, faltering not till the 
ranks were broken by shot and shell, and in all these 
severe tests, which would have tried even veteran 
troops, ' they fully met my expectations,' said the gen- 
eral, ' for many of them were killed, wounded, or cap- 
tured on the walls of the fort. No man broke till fired 
upon.' 

"'The Sixth Connecticut, who had honored them- 
selves at Jacksonville, cooperating with colored troops, 
supported the Fifty-fourth in the assault. Several of the 
ofl&cers lying in the hospital, confirm the testimony of 
General Strong. Th^ regiment went in seven hundred 
strong, and brought off only three hundred and sixty 
sound men. Of seventeen officers, only three came 
out unhurt. The number of killed, I have not learned. 
About two hundred are now lying in our hospitals. 
Some, who had prophesied that the colored man would 



PATIENT SUFFERING IN THE HOSPITALS. 239 

not stand fire, but had finally yielded in his favor, still 
contended that ghastly wounds and sufferings, with 
slaughter and death of comrades, would quash all their 
love of freedom and soldiering, and silence the boasts 
of their friends. 

" On the second and fourth days after the fight, I 
passed through nearly all the wards of the hospital. 
On the second day, a very large proportion of their 
wounds had not been dressed, and of course they were 
very painful. Some lay with shattered legs or arms, or 
both ; others with limbs amputated. Rebel bullets, 
grape, shells, and bayonets, have made sad havoc. 
Standing amidst a large number, I said, ' Well, boys, 
this was not a part of the programme, was it ? ' ' Oh, 
yes, mdeed ; we expected to take all that comes,' said 
some. Others said, ' Thank God, we went in to live 
or die ! ' 

" ' If out of it and at home, how many would enlist 
again ? ' With brightened faces, and some raising of 
even wounded arms or hands, all said, ' Oh, yes, yes, 
yes.' Some sang out, ' Oh, never give it up till the last 
rebel be dead,' or ' the last brother breaks his chains,' or, 
' If all our people get their freedom, we can afford to die.' 

" No man can pass among these sufferers, so patient, 
so cheerful, hear them express their desire for a speedy 
recovery, first and only that they may (the almost uni- 
versal expression) ' try it over again ; ' also, tlieir firm 
conviction that they are soldiers for Jesus, to help on 
his war of freedom for all the oppressed, and not be in- 
spired with deepest abhorrence of slavery, and un- 
quenchable desire for the freedom of their race." 



240 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Of the coolness and clash of these men in the midst 
of the fight, many incidents are related. It is in these 
hand-to-hand contests that the fighting qualities of the 
soldier are subjected to the severest test. From the 
moment they entered the fierce conflict, in the assault 
upon the fort, they became the object of the severest 
treatment by their malignant foes. This they expected. 
In one stage of the conflict, the rebels made repeated 
rushes for the wounded, fighting, as one account de- 
clares, as desperately for that object as to slaughter or 
to wound. 

To repel these charges the men used the bayonet, 
but were not entirely successful, for the colored troops 
and many others were captured alive. As the Fifty- 
fourth were retreating over the parapet, the color-bearer 
was shot, and the State flag fell inside. The color-guard 
gave a shout, and there was a most creditable rally to 
recover the flag. The rebels attempted to carry flag 
and soldiers off, and there was a hand-to-hand fight, 
bayonets being used freely, till the ground was covered 
with the dead or wounded. The result was that the 
enemy tore off the flag, but the colored men kept the 
staff. 

" One of the colored soldiers," relates the correspon- 
dent of the Philadelphia Inquirer^ '-'- who had faithfully 
stood at his post, and refused to fall back when the 
rebels drove in our pickets, was afterward brought into 
our lines. The rebels, not content with having mur- 
dered him, had cut off both his ears and scalped him ! 
As his comrades looked upon this hideous sight, they 
grated their teeth, and swore never to take another pris- 



THE NEGRO WILL FIGHT. 241 

oner ; and I can assure you that the rebels will find 
that the Fifty-fourth will retaliate in this case without 
waiting for special or general orders. 

" One laughable incident connected with this engage- 
ment is as follows : — After the rebels had retreated, a 
colored sergeant belonging to the Fifty-fourth Massa- 
chusetts, and very stunted, was seen coming in with a 
secesh prisoner. The rebel was one of those tall speci- 
mens of the chivalry who seem to have been originally 
intended for astronomical observations, while his cap- 
tor was a stunted negro, who could with ease have 
walked between the legs of his prize. It was a ludi- 
crous sight, — the little contraband, with expanding 
eyes, large mouth, ivory glistening, lugging his own 
arms and those of his prisoner ; and beside him was 
a long-haired, sunken-jawed, sallow-faced specimen of 
Southern vegetation, humbly following his enterprising 
colored brother." 

"A private letter from West Point, Ya., narrates an 
exciting adventure which recently befell a negro-scout 
in the employ of our forces, and his shrewdness in es- 
caping from the enemy. His name is Claiborne, and 
he is a full-blooded African, with big lips, flat nose, &c. 
He has lived in the vicinity all his life, and is therefore 
familiar with the country, which renders him a very 
valuable scout. On Claiborne's last trip inside the 
enemy's lines, after scouting around as much as he 
wished, he picked up eight chickens and started for 
camp. His road led past the house of a secesh doctor, 
named Roberts, who knows him, and who ordered him 

21 



242 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

to stop, which, of course, Claiborne had no idea of 
doing, and kept on, when the doctor fired on him and 
gave chase, shouting at the top of his voice. The negro 
was making good time toward camp, when all at once 
he was confronted by a whole regiment of rebel soldiers, 
who ordered him to halt. For a moment the scout was 
dumfounded, and thought his hour had come, but the 
next he sung out, — 

'^ ' The Yankees are coming ! The Yankees are com- 
ing ! ' 

" ' Where ? — where ? ' inquired the rebels. 

" ' Just up in front of Dr. Roberts' house, in a piece 
of woods,' returned Sambo. ' Dr. Roberts sent me 
down to tell you to come up quick, or they'll kill the 
whole of us.' 

" ' Come in, come into camp,' said the soldiers. 

" ' No, no,' says the 'cute African. ' I have got to 
go down and tell the cavalry pickets, and can't wait a 
second.' So off he sprang with a bound, running for 
dear life, the rebels discovering the ruse, chasing him 
for three miles, and he running six, when he got safely 
into camp, but minus his chickens, which he dropped at 
the first fire." 

"The Frederick (Md.) Citizen — a democratic paper 
— says, that on the 5th instant, during the movements 
in Maryland and Pennsylvania, an intelligent negro 
man, who, it is reported, belongs to the rebel General 
Stuart, was discovered in the vicinity, and imparted 
information to our commander concerning the number 
and location of a body of rebel troops on South Moun- 



THE NEGRO WILL FIGHT. 243 

tain, which led to the capture of fifteen hundred of the 
enemy, with a large number of horses, wagons, and 
ambulances. It would be a generous reward, were this 
slave within our lines, to return him, as certain people 
propose, to chains and infamy ! " 



CHAPTER XIV. 

' Glad as a soul in pain, who hears from heaven 
The angels singing of his sins forgiven, 

And, wondering, sees 
His prison opening to their golden keys, 

• He rose a man who laid him down a slave. 
Shook from his locks the ashes of the grave, 

And outward trod 
Into the glorious liberty of God. 

" He cast the symbols of his shame away; 
And, passing where the sleeping Milcho lay. 

Though back and limb 
Smarted with wrong, he prayed, ' God, pardon him I ' 



THE SCEira CHAJ!^GED — WASHINGTON, N.C., IN 1863 -ENROLMENT 
OF FREEDMEN— CONTRABANDS AND WHAT TO DO WITH THEM 
— DR. STONE'S ACCOUNT — THE PROGRESS OF ENLISTMENT — 
THE GOVERNMENT MAKES PROVISION FOR THEIR SUPPORT - 
"THE POOR WHITE TRASH" — THE LABORS OF GEN. THOMAS. 

THERE are strange vicissitudes in war; we are 
rapidly making history on this continent. The 
change going on as we write, in .the position and con- 
dition of the African race, is quite surprising. In a 
former chapter the reader was taken, with Mrs. Hay- 
wood and her daughters, in their coach and two, with 
Lunsford as driver, to that interesting town of Wash- 
ington, North CaroUna. Then, no sign of change ap- 
peared in the condition of the slave ; the same monot- 
onous round of toil on the plantation was seen from 
day to day and from year to year ; and the owner 

244 



WASHINGTON, N. C, IN 1863. 245 

looked upon the status of the African as fixed. To-day 
(1863) the recruiting officer has his tents pitched in 
that same Washington, and thousands of freedmen are 
being enrolled for the great battle for freedom. 

Their strong desire to be so employed is proven from 
the reports reaching us from many portions of the field 
of conflict. These liberated slaves understand that it is 
a fight for the freedom of their race ; the proof of their 
efficiency as soldiers also continues to accumulate. 

An officer in General Wilde's African brigade, who 
is engaged in receiving recruits at Washington, North 
Carolina, gives the following interesting account of the 
black volunteers : — 

" They vary in height from fi\Q feet ten, to six feet 
two inches, averaging about five feet and six inches. 
They are of good build, stout, soldier-like, very enthu- 
siastic, and highly pleased that they can do something 
for their freedom. They rejoice that they can be 
armed, and, under the protection of the flag of the 
Union, go to the rescue of their fathers, wives, chil- 
dren, brothers, and sisters, who are now in the hands of 
the oppressor, and, if need be, bleed and die for their 
safety. They feel that they have suffered enough of 
cruelty, privation, and separation, and that the year of 
jubilee has come. They come of all ages, — the young 
and the old. When the latter are told that too many 
years have passed over their heads, the tears roll down 
their cheeks, while they say, ' I want to do something.' 
* My sons shall go, but I want to go, too.' The women 
are enthusiastic in the cause, and are urging the men 
to enlist. One said to a man unwilling to volunteer, 

21* 



24(3 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

' Then give me your clothes, and you take mine, one 
of us shall go.^ The women have formed themselves 
into a sewing-circle to work for the colored soldiers 
who have enlisted." 

They are also raising money for a banner to be pre- 
sented to the Second Regiment of North Carolina Vol- 
unteers, which is fast filling up. The colored women 
of Newborn, by great industry in soliciting subscrip- 
tions from their own people in small sums, collected 
sufficient to purchase a handsome flag for the First 
Eegiment, of which it is understood Colonel Beecher, 
the brother of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, is to 
have the command. This money was placed, if we are 
correctly informed, in the hands of the Rev. Horace 
James, who purchased the flag in Boston, and has long 
since forwarded it to Newborn. In addition to this, 
subscriptions are being made to assist the families of 
those who have volunteered. The government does 
something for such families ; but often, when the poor 
wife goes to the department for a week's rations for 
herself and children, a mere pittance is put into the 
basket, and she is ordered to ' come no more.' As 
soon as practicable. General Wilde will correct this in- 
justice, and colored people will be put in a position to 
rise morally and intellectually." 

An officer in one of the Louisiana colored regiments 
thus speaks of his experience with negro soldiers in a 
letter from Port Hudson : — 

"Every morning we were busily engaged in transform- 
ing nude, ragged, uncouth-looking plantation hands 
into straight, brisk, neat-looking United States soldiers. 



CONTRABANDS AND WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. 247 

And such is the result : the poor, stupid slave comes in 
^e day the most hopeless-looking wretch ; the next 
morning, after one good night's rest from his long tramp 
from the interior, a refreshing wash in the bayou, and a 
change of clothes from tatters and rags to a blue uniform 
transforms him into a man. We can scarcely understand 
it, but the slave knows it well. It is the long-expected 
jubilee. His faith is at last crowned with its full fruit. 
If I had time, I could tell you almost incredible stories 
about these victims of the accursed system. In examin- 
ing the persons of our recruits, we find the work of the 
lash. In many cases you can scarcely lay your finger 
between the seams and scars, all along from the shoulder 
down. We are now at Port Hudson, assisting at the siege. 
We had drilled our recruits about two weeks, just so as 
to get the facings and wheelings, when we were ordered 
to the front. Our commands are detailed each day to 
the very important work of building fortifications, so 
we have in our department no fair chance to see how 
our men will act in a regular fight ; but, if to stand in 
front of the enemy, exposed to their fire, and continue 
the work without any comparative fear, be any proof of 
valor, our men give ample evidence in that way. They 
have the first and most important element of soldier- 
ship, — subordination." 

The writer was a fellow-passenger in the cars a short 
time since with the Rev. A. L. Stone, D.D., of Boston, 
lately returned from Newbern, where he has been a 
chaplain of a Massachusetts regiment. From a brief 
conversation the following interesting facts were ob- 
tained : — 



248 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

The hospital chaplains were so constantly occupied 
with their own duties that they had little time to attei^ 
to the multitudes of contrabands who were arriving 
from the interior, and who were needing instruction 
and advice. Finally, Rev. Mr. Stone and other regi- 
mental chaplains collected some five hundred of them 
in one of the churches in Newbern, and began the work 
of Christian civilization, which means, especially with 
these people, instruction in the elementary parts of the 
English language, as well as rudimentary lessons in the 
Christian religion. To convey this instruction with suc- 
cess, Mr. Stone used no other helps than the human 
voice, and the blackboard and chalk. The rapid ad- 
vances made under this mode of instruction fully set 
at rest the question of the capacity of the race for intel- 
lectual and moral improvement. 

Of the rapid changes going on in the condition of the 
men, Mr. Stone related the following incident: The 
regiment to which he was attached was encamped sev- 
eral miles from town, and their tents had hardly been 
pitched, when they were besieged with applications from 
the contrabands for opportunities to labor. One day a 
singular specimen of the race presented himself at the 
tent-door, saying, " Massa, anything for this darky to 
do ? " "I looked at him a moment," said Mr. Stone, 
" and a more forbidding object, to outside appearances, 
I have seldom seen. He was clothed in two garments, 
— an apology for a shirt, and a pair of pants torn to 
ribbons at the extremity of both legs, with a hole on 
the left side large enougli to expose some twelve inch 33 
of black anatomy. I said to myself. Can such a squalid, 



DR. stone's account. 249 

thievish-looking being be of any use to me ? I had lost 
my servant, and was in search of another. I replied, 
' Sambo, I guess not.' As I was about to turn away, I 
thought I detected in his eyes something like honesty, 
as well as a little disappointment. I said, as he was 
about to leave, ' Sambo, can you cut wood ? ' 'I try, 
Massa.' ' Well take that axe, and see what you can 
do to that pile,' showing him the direction. He 
soon presented himself again at the tent-door. ' Well, 
Massa, I done dat.' ' What, so soon ? ' This was en- 
couraging. " Any ting more, Massa ? " 'I guess not.' 
Finally, remembering my neglected horse in the stable, 
I said, ' Sambo, do you know anything about a horse ? 
•■ Little, Massa.' His evident modesty won upon me. 
^ Well, go to that stable, and bring my horse here ; he 
is in the left-hand stall.' The negro stood a moment 
looking first at one hand and then at the other, as if in 
some doubt. This question being settled, as to which 
hand he should consider his right hand and which his 
left, I soon heard the sound of my horse. I knew his 
peculiar tread, — sure enough with Sambo bestride him, 
without saddle or bridle. Very well. I concluded to 
hire him as servant. He proved most faithful and use- 
ful ; always on hand at the proper time ; never flinching 
from danger in battle ; even exposing himself to the 
shots of the enemy, when duty did not require it. I 
procured him good clothing, and tried to render his 
condition comfortable. I missed him a few days before 
the regiment broke camp. He soon presented himself, 
dressed in the clothing of a United States soldier. 
' What does this mean, Sambo ? ' ' Enlisted, Master.' 



250 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

' What do those stripes on your arm mean ? ' ' Corpo- 
ral, sir.' Before I left for the North, I saw the ' corpo- 
ral ' again. He had been promoted to ' sergeant.' He 
had learned the whole drill." 

It is well to observe that there are three classes of 
colored men who have been, or must be tried in the 
severe ordeal of war. First, the regular "contra- 
band," whose courage has already been tested at Milh- 
ken's Bend. Here they are said " to have out-fought 
their officers." Second, the free negroes of the Free 
Slates who have been for some time resident. Third, 
the free negroes of the South, who were found in large 
numbers in Louisiana, and in other portions of the 
field. 

In all these cases, as well as in the expeditions of 
Montgomery and Higginson, they have not only be- 
haved well for raw troops, — which is all that could be 
expected of them, — but fought with rare bravery and 
tenacity. " The bearing of all this experience," well 
remarks a writer in the Boston Journal, " on the future, 
needs no comment." Interesting accounts of the prog- 
ress of their enrolment as troops are from time to 
time received. The government has taken a deep inter- 
est in the subject, and has given some of their ablest 
officers the necessary instructions i?i carrying forward 
the good work. The Port Royal correspondent of one 
of the New York papers communicates the following in- 
teresting facts with regard to negro regiments in that 
department : — 

" It is said that the government has authorized the 
recruiting of fifty thousand negroes into regiments, for 



PROGRESS OF ENLISTMENT. 251 

service in this department, as soon as they can be pro- 
cured. The first regiment of South Carolina Volun- 
teers, under Col. T. W. Higginson, is now nearly full ; 
and yesterday Col. Montgomery, formerly of the Third 
Kansas Regiment, arrived by the Star of the South, 
from New York, with a commission to raise the sec- 
ond regiment. There will be little impediment in 
the way of quickly doing this, if — as I am informed 
will be the case — the work of cotton-planting is not 
carried on next spring, and the able negroes now on 
the plantations within our lines are encouraged to en- 
list. Last Wednesday Gen. Hunter dropped in acciden- 
tally at the review of the first regiment, just previous 
to its departure on transports, upon an expedition down 
the coast, the object of which I have not heard. The 
regiment made a fine appearance, numbering about 
eight hundred men, and parading six hundred muskets. 
All of the men who had received military instruction 
during the past two months, and more especially the 
veteran companies first formed by Gen. Hunter, did ad- 
mirably. Whatever mistakes were made were those of 
the white officers, and these mistakes were of distances 
required in the various evolutions, for which the cap- 
tains can alone be held responsible. It is impossible to 
conceive any higher aptitude for receiving military in~- 
struction than these negroes exhibit. Their changes in 
front, formation in square, and preparation to charge in 
double column, were executed with a harmonious rapid- 
ity and precision scarcely to be surpassed by any regi- 
ment in the command, although more than one-half 
the men have not been under a month's instruction.'' 



252 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

Of the progress made in the organization of these 
troops it is impossible to speak at present with any defi- 
niteness. One writer, speaking of the enlistment of 
these soldiers in Philadelphia, says, " The first regiment 
of colored United States Volunteers is complete, and 
another is in progress of formation. Col. Tilghman, of 
the veteran 26th Pennsylvania Volunteers, has accepted 
the command of the first ; and Capt. John W. Ames, of 
the 11th Regular United States Infantry, has been nom- 
inated for the second. Col. Tilghman is a son of the 
Chief Justice Tilghman stock, and withal a fine soldier 
and high-toned gentleman. Capt. Ames is a graduate 
of Harvard, and son of Judge Ames, of Boston, and 
grandson of Fisher Ames. The Philadelphia black- 
enlistment movement is a complete success, command- 
ing the hearty approval of loyal people of all classes." 

Another writer at Washington says that the War 
Department is pushing the organization of black troops 
vigorously. The success of our forces in the West has 
given a fresh impetus to enlistments among the blacks 
in that direction, and by autumn it is estimated that at 
least one hundred thousand negroes will be under arms 
in the valley of the Mississippi. It has been decided to 
raise four colored regiments in the District of Colum- 
bia. The first is complete, and the second rapidly ap- 
proaching completion. General Thomas, who has been 
commissioned by the government to inaugurate their 
policy in the West, has lately, on his return, given some 
account of his experience, and of what has so far been 
accomplished. 

The Philadelphia Press reports the following brief 
outlines : — 



LABORS OF GENERAL THOMAS. 253 

" General Thomas, at considerable length, spoke of 
his mission West ; of the powers vested in him by the 
administration ; of the prejudices he had to combat ; 
of the discouragements at j&rst thrown in his way, even 
by some of the most loyal men in the army ; but he 
was .happy to say that he had been most successful, 
and that before he returned home, which he was obliged 
to do on account of a severe illness, he had fully organ- 
ized twenty thousand contrabands. One leading gen- 
eral in the West, whom he did not name, was at first 
opposed to the policy ; but before General Thomas left, 
he heartily indorsed it, and scarcely a man in the army 
can now be found, who does not believe that an impor- 
tant part is yet to be taken by the contrabands in the 
work of suppressing the rebellion. At one place it was 
given as the opinion of the general in command, that one 
regiment might possibly be raised. Before he left that 
place, three full regiments were organized. On one 
point the testimony of General Thomas was emphatic, 
and that was the fighting qualities of the negro. He 
had witnessed them at Milliken's Bend and other places, 
where they had exhibited a degree of determination, 
bravery, and heroism, which he ventured to say had not 
been surpassed anywhere in the history of the war. 
Gen. Thomas, in concluding, said he intended to start 
to the West to-day, to finish the work he had com- 
menced on his first visit, and he had strong hope that 
before the close of the year he would have fully organ- 
ized, equipped, and drilled one hundred thousand contra- 
bands^ who, with the consciousness of the fight in them, 
would render valuable service in the final overthrow of 

22 



254 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

one of the most causeless and wicked rebellions known 
in the history of the world." 

The work thus begun is now being carried forward 
by our Western generals, as the following account from 
the department of General Rosecrans proves : — 

" This general has issued an order," says a w];iter, 
" arming all the negroes in his department. I have 
not seen the order ; but understand it is to the ef- 
fect that all negroes employed as servants, by officers, 
and otherwise in the army, are to be immediately or- 
ganized into regiments and armed. A second clause 
constitutes a board of examination, whose duty it is to 
examine officers of the army applying for commissions 
as officers of these regiments. Among others named 
as constituting this board, I remember only the name of 
Col. Parkhurst, 11th Michigan. He tells me that offi- 
cers thus applying are to be examined as to their pecul- 
iar fitness to control negroes, as well as to their ability 
to drill and discipline them as soldiers. There are now 
about seven thousand negroes in the department who 
will be thus armed, and the number is increasing daily. 
I should not be astonished to report, in two months 
hence, ten thousand negro soldiers as forming part of 
this army. It has been discovered here that a company 
of free negroes was at one time organized by the rebels 
in Nashville, and the Nashville rebel organ of Isham G. 
Harris expressed the opinion that each one could whip 
ten Yankees. As the white rebels had never claimed 
that they could whip more than five Yankees, the Nash- 
ville Union argues (and the army professes to accept the 
argument) that a negro is twice as good as a secession- 



PROVISION FOR THEIR SUPPORT. 2^5 

ist. The question is not likely to remain long without 
practical solution." 

The civilizing process thus going on among our cit- 
izens of African descent has yet a great work to accom- 
plish among a large portion of our Southern fellow-citi- 
zens, denominated the " poor white trash." We deeply 
commiserate these neglected people, who, but for the 
crushing effect of slavery upon free labor, would not 
now be placed so far behind the average civilization of 
the Free States. Their redemption, too, is nigh. It 
gives us pain to insert the following too truthful picture, 
as the writer can affirm from what he has himself wit- 
nessed in portions of the South : — 

''All the citizens of the country in which the army 
now lies depend entirely upon it for daily support. 
They go each morning in squads to the different divi- 
sion headquarters, and draw food upon orders issued by 
the provost marshals of each division. It is estimated 
that many thousands in the vicinity of Winchester, Tenn., 
are thus fed by our troops. Most of these are women and 
children whose natural protectors are in the rebel army, 
or who are in our hands as deserters. The men are 
generally very old, and the boys are all under fifteen. 
Those liable to do military duty are gone, and not likely 
to get home soon. I talked with a great many of the 
women who came to Rousseau for their rations, and find 
them in most cases indifferent to the return of their 
liege lords. There is a startling amount of immorality 
among them. In their habits, such as smoking, chew- 
ing, and ' dipping,' they are most disgusting. I was 
sitting in the tent of Capt. WiUiams, at Rousseau's, a 



256 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

day or two since, admiring the delicate, well-turned 
features of a woman who, had she been educated, would 
have been thought beautiful, and was about to express 
some such idea to Capt. WilHams, when she turned her 
head to one side, and, with the air and appearance of a 
practiced chewer, ' spirted ' a stream of saliva from her 
thin lips, and then throwing away the tobacco she had 
been cheeking, took from her pocket a small vial of 
snuff, and with a spoon-shaped bit of wood filled her 
mouth with the filthy drug. ' Major^allow me,' said 
another young and beautiful damsel to a friend of 
mine who had just filled his pipe. At the same time 
she took a cob-pipe from her pocket, and filled it with 
the Major's strong smoking tobacco, and puffed away 
with the most perfect, but by no means charming, non- 
chalance. The ignorance of this people is as disgusting 
as their manners. I am told by some members of the 
Christian Commission that they have ten times the 
number of applications from slaves for reading-matter, 
primers, &c., that they have from the white citizens. 
At the headquarters of General Rousseau, at Cowan, 
rations are issued to two hundred and thirty-five per- 
sons daily, and the picture I have drawn of them will 
apply to all I have seen in this vicinity. I have seen 
no ' better class of chivalry ' as yet. I suppose and 
hope they have gone South." 

Another portion of the field is thus described by a cor- 
respondent of the St. Louis Democrat^ who recently 
passed from Cairo to Vicksburg, from which we make 
a brief extract : — 

"A river continually traversed by gunboats, bearing 



WESTERN COUNTRY DEPOPULATED. 25T 

upon its bosom large nnmbers of military transports, 
the banks of the river lined with frowning batteries, 
barren fields, depopulated villages, and a general sus- 
pension of business, gives but a poor photograph of the 
appearance of the country, late the theatre of hostile 
contests. From Cairo to Vicksburg, a distance of six 
hundred miles, not a score of human beings, residents 
of the territory between those points, appeared on the 
river shores, with the exception of negroes, most of 
whom were women and children. 

" Southern conscription, the force used to compel 
able-bodied blacks to do the drudgery of the rebel army, 
together with the advance of our armies and the flight 
of guilty rebels, have, as I have mentioned, depopulated 
the country as though it had been visited by a deadly 
plague. Nevertheless, thousands of helpless women, 
dependent children, and the aged and infirm of both 
sexes are to be found, at the different towns, landings, 
and farms. This class are to be supported, and, if un- 
able, as they are, to make a livelihood for themselves, 
must be the recipients of government charity. To-day 
there are not less than seven-tenths of the citizens of 
Tennessee and Mississippi, living on the borders of the 
river, who are the receivers of alm^ from the govern- 
ment commissary. War is a certain leveller of all 
classes of one or the other of the contending parties. 
This is true in a social as well as a pecuniary sense. 
Men and women, who, before the war, revelled in all the 
luxuries of wealth, not deigning to notice the 'poor 
white trash ' among them, are to-day the associates of 

22* 



258 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

and in the same condition with their once less fortu- 
nate, but now nearly equal, fellow-beings. 

" The most complacent class along the river are the 
American citizens of African descent, once lorded over 
on the plantations, but now lords of the same. Col- 
lected at the different military posts are to be found 
hundreds and thousands of former slaves, — the male 
portion having enlisted in the Federal army, — the 
females and children, for the present, having settled 
near our camps, until provision shall have been made 
for their colonization, or preparation made to relieve 
them from a state of dependency." 



CHAPTER XV. 



"De darkies at de Norf am ris, 
And dey am comin' down,— 
Am comin' down, I know dey is. 
To do de white folks brown I 

" Dey'll turn ole massa out to grass, 
And set de niggers free ; 
And when dat day am come to pass, 
We'll all be dar to see I 

' So shut your mouf as close as deaf, 

And all you niggas hole your breaf, 

And do de white folks brown! " 



THE CONTRABANDS — WHAT TO DO, AND HO WTO EMPLOY THEM 
— REPORT OF GOVERNMENT COMIVHSSIONERS — REPORT OF 
EMANCIPATION LEAGUE — A PLAN FOR THEIR COLONIZATION 
AND SUPPORT ON ROANOKE ISLAND —WHAT THEY HAVE DONE 
IN LIBERIA THEY MAY DO BETTER HERE — THE DARKY MAK- 
ING HIMSELF COMFORTABLE. 

THE employment of this army of male contrabands 
must necessarily leave a large number of depend- 
ent women and children, whose fathers and protectors 
have enlisted in the army, to be supported in some 
way. To leave them, in tlie present unsettled condition 
of the various military districts, to perish, would be 
most inhuman. We are glad to find that the govern- 
ment is ahve to the work, and the most prudent meas- 
ures are being devised and executed to relieve their 
distress. What to do, and how to employ the contra- 
bands is, and will for some time be, a most perplexing 

269 



260 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

question. To ascertain what could be done, the govern- 
ment some time since appointed Eobert Dale Owen, 
James McKaye, and Samuel G. Howe, commissioners 
to inquire into the condition and necessities of the 
slaves freed during the war. The commissioners have 
made a preliminary report concerning their investiga- 
tions in the District of Columbia, Eastern Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and f lorida. The 
Boston Journal gives the following synopsis of this 
report : — 

" In the three sections first-named, the Commission 
are confident that the freedmen need not be, for any 
length of time, dependent upon the government for 
assistance. They are loyal, faithful, and willing to 
work ; docile and uncomplaining. The negroes of 
South Carolina *and Florida are of an essentially differ- 
ent cliaracter, having been much degraded by the harsh- 
ness of the ' peculiar ingtitution.' The most effective 
agency to give character to the race is found to be mili- 
tary training ; and the Commissioners are of opinion 
that one hundred thousand negroes might be profitably 
employed as military laborers, and tliree hundred thou- 
sand as soldiers in the field. This number of able-bod- 
ied men, represent a population of a million and a half, 
being nearly one-half of all the colored people in the 
insurrectionary States. To provide for this population 
then, becomes an important question, and a system of 
guardianship is recommended, though, with the accom- 
panying reflection, that such an arrangement must be 
only temporary in its character. 

" The plan of provisional organization which they 



REPORT OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONERS 201 

suggest includes a Superintendent General of Freed- 
men, to rank as a Brigadier-General, with his headquar- 
ters at Washington ; three Department Superintendents, 
and below these, Resident Superintendents for each 
important station, with assistants, clerks, and other offi- 
cers. Under these officers the refugees are to be con- 
stantly employed, receiving fair wages, that they may 
learn that emancipation does not mean idleness, or gra- 
tuitous labor. The importance of educational and 
religious instruction is also strongly urged, and the 
eagerness of these people to receive it is dwelt upon. 

" The Commission express the opinion that the care 
of the refugees should be substantially separate from 
the ordinary military administration of the army, and 
are confident that, if a judicious selection of officers be 
made, the plans they propose will meet with practical 
success." * 

* The following important order from General Grant, bearing upon this sub- 
ject has been issued : — 

Headquarters Department of Tennessee, ) 
ViCKSBURG, Miss., Aug. 10, 1863. ) 

General Orders, No. 51 : 

I. At all military posts in States within this Department, where slavery has 
been abolished by the proclamation of the President of the United States, 
camps will be established for such freed people of color as are out of employ- 
ment. 

II. Commanders of posts or districts will detail suitable officers from the 
army as superintendents of such camps. It will be the duty of such superin- 
tendents to see that suitable rations are drawn from the Subsistence Depart- 
ment for such as are confided to their care. 

III. All such persons supported by the government will be employed in every 
practicable way, so as to avoid, as far as possible, their becoming a burden upon 
the government. They may be hired to planters or other citizens, on proper as- 
surances that the negroes so hired will not be run off beyond the jurisdiction 
of the United States. They may be employed on any public works, in gather- 
ing crops from abandoned plantations, and generally, in any manner local com- 
mnnders may deem for the best interests of the government, in compl ance with 
law and the policy of the Administration. 



262 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

IV. It will be the duty of the provost marshal at every military post to see 
that every negro within the jurisdiction of the military authority is employed 
by some white person, or is sent to the camps provided for freed people. 

V. Citizens may make contracts with freed persons of color for their labor, 
given wages per month in money, or employ families of them by the year on 
plantations, etc., feeding, clothing, and supporting the infirm as well as the 
able-bodied, and given a portion of not less than one-twentieth of the commer- 
cial part of their crops in payment for such service. 

VI. Where negroes are employed under this authority, the parties employing 
will register with the provost marshal their names, occupation, and residence, 
and the number of negroes so employed. They will enter into such bonds as the 
provost marshal, with the approval of the local commander, may require, for 
the kind treatment and proper care of those employed, as security against their 
being carried oif beyond the employer's jurisdiction. 

VII. Nothing in this order is to be construed to embarrass the employment 
of such colored persons as may be required by the government. 

By order of Major-General U. S. Grant. 

T. S. Bowers, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. 

We learn from the Journal above referred to that the 
committee of the Emancipation League of Boston re- 
cently addressed a circular letter to those having charge 
of negroes within our military lines in the South, ask- 
ing information as to their condition and capacity for 
self-support. The replies are published, and the gist of 
them is appended : — 

" Gen. Saxton estimates the number of contrabands 
in the Department of the South at about eighteen thou- 
sand, of which number twelve thousand are in the State 
of South Carolina. At Key West and other points in 
Florida there are about six thousand according to ac- 
counts. The general says the negro has shown as 
much willingness to work as white men would do un- 
der the same circumstances. They have no desire to 
come North. They are very anxious to be educated, 
and their children learn as fast as white children. The 
negroes are described to be more pious than moral ; 



REPORT OF EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 263 

but freedom and the doctrines of liberal Christianity 
will develop the moral element. 

" C. B. Wilder writes from Fortress Monroe to the 
same effect. He says that two thousand negroes have 
been employed by the government at ten dollars per 
month, while white laborers get twenty-five dollars per 
month and found. Many of the negroes have been 
paid nothing, or next to nothing, and the government 
owes them $30,000. 

" Rev. Samuel Sawyer writes from Helena, Ark., that 
there are four thousand contrabands there ; that they 
are temperate, are more chaste than the whites ; that 
they have no wish to go North ; that their docility, sub- 
ordination, and kindred virtues are remarkable, and 
that they are capable of making as much progress in 
all that is elevating as the poor whites among whom the 
writer has had many years' experience. 

" George D. Wise, quartermaster to the Western flo- 
tilla, speaks favorably of the great service rendered by 
the negroes at Cairo last summer. They were more 
temperate, obedient, and generally serviceable than the 
white laborers. Lieut. Wise says the Southern negro 
is much more intelligent than the lower order of white 
people in the Slave States, which arises from their 
better associations, and the greater physical comforts 
they have enjoyed. He adds, however, their treatment 
by the officers of the government, ' as a rule, has been 
brutal and cruel in the extreme. What they need is 
what they have long been promised, but never had, — 
protection from the abuses of rebel sympathizers, and 
reasonable encouragement and opportunity to get a 
living/ 



264 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

"0. Brown reports from Craney Island (Hampton 
Roads) that there are at that depot thirteen hundred 
and eighty-one negroes, of whom only two hundred are 
men. They are all willing to work. One hundred of 
the men are getting wood, and assisting in the construc- 
tion of barracks, and fifty others are engaged in catch- 
ing oysters for the use of the island. The government 
pays them nothing ; but many have saved fifty to one 
hundred dollars during the past year, while they had 
an opportunity of working for themselves. They do 
not desire to go North. Even house-servants decline 
the offer of good wages and permanent homes from 
their partiality for the Southern climate. Mr. Brown 
favors the scheme of colonization for these people. 

" Chaplains Fitch and Ferman made a report from 
the Arkansas district substantially the same as that of 
Mr. Sawyer, alluded to above. They fix the amount 
of back pay due the contrabands by the government at 
$50,000. 

" D. B. Nichols, Superintendent of the Contraband 
Department, reports that three thousand three hundred 
and eighty-one contrabands have passed through that 
camp within the last six months. Five hundred re- 
main. Out of the whole number, Mr. Nichols says, 
' I have not been able to persuade more than fifteen or 
twenty to go North, notwithstanding the most liberal 
offers have been made to them.' He adds, ' They de- 
sire to remain on the soil where they were born if they 
can do so and enjoy their freedom.' 

"From the reports it appears that there is every- 
v/liere a lack of system as to the employment and pay 



COLONIZATION ON ROANOKE ISLAND. 235 

of the negroes, which should be remedied. All the 
facts brought out go to show not only that the philan- 
thropists of the North have a great work before them 
in the care and training of the freed negroes ; but also 
the necessity of a wise and comprehensive system on 
the part of the general government, which will soon 
have on its hands hundreds of thousands of these help- 
less grown-up children. If justice is done them, the 
negroes will ultimately take care of themselves ; but 
during the transition period, and especially while the 
war goes on, they will necessarily be wards of the gov- 
ernment, and it should make ample provision for the 
fulfilment of this novel class .of duties." 

Since the above reports were made, considerable prog- 
ress has been made in several military departments, in 
bringing something like order out of the confused state 
of life in which the contrabands are living. In the de- 
partment of North Carolina the Rev. Horace James has 
been commissioned by Gen. Foster to set forth the claims 
of the freed people of North Carolina. Considerable aid 
is needed for the support of the families of those who 
have enlisted in the army. The government has appro- 
priated Roanoke Island for a new colonization of the 
loyal colored people who have flocked within our lines. 
They need comfortable cottages, and consequently build- 
ing materials, agricultural implements, clothing, and a 
thousand little comforts of which they arc at present 
destitute. The generosity with which the people re- 
spond in the Free States, will help, in a great measure, 
to solve the great problem before the country. 

The black race have already accomplished much in 

23 



266 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

Liberia, where they have had to struggle against much 
greater obstacles than they will, in future, have to 
encounter here. The soil and climate of the Southern 
States is certainly as favorable to their development and 
prosperity as the coast of Africa. Colored men of un- 
mixed African blood have gone from the Southern 
States to Liberia, and risen to the highest posts of influ- 
ence and responsibility. The last account from that 
country states that the biennial election resulted in the 
choice of Hon. Daniel Dashiel Warner as President. 
Mr. Warner was born in Baltimore, April 19, 1815, and 
reached Liberia, May 24, 1823, and has not since been 
out of the country. He is described as a man of integ- 
rity and ability, a successful merchant, and has accep- 
tably held several prominent public positions, among 
others, that of Secretary of State. He is now serving 
his second term as Vice President, and was lately Act- 
ing President during the absence, in Europe, of Mr. 
Benson. 

A letter from Rev. A. Crummel, contains the follow- 
ing gratifying account of the progress which has been 
made in the African Republic : — 

" One thing strikes me most forcibly, namely : the 
immense number of bricks made this year, and the 
many new houses which are building. Some years 
ago thatched houses formed the habitations of our citi- 
zens. They gave way to frame buildings. The day of 
frame buildings is past, and now brick buildings are 
springing up on every side. In our agricultural dis- 
tricts I see a very great change. There is less wood- 
land than when I left two years ago. New plantations 



THE AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 267 

have been opened ; old ones are larger ; more sugar- 
mills have been imported ; more sugar is in the market, 
and at a cheaper price. I wish I could say so much 
about cotton ; but one fact I may mention. A friend 
of mine — one of my parishioners — is now buying 
cotton in goodly qu.an titles from the natives, and as he 
buys, the quantity that comes increases. He has the 
largest hopes ; sends seed into the interior, and expects 
to stimulate its wide growth in the interior. Our cof- 
fee culture was never in such a prosperous and hopeful 
state as at present. I am trying to collect the facts 
pertaining to it, and I shall not be surprised if fully 
half a million of acres are planted this year. I hope our 
next legislature will be composed of able men, and that 
generous offers from abroad may meet with a favorable 
notice." 

Who will doubt that with the proper protection of 
the government given to this race, so that they shall be 
secure in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, 
tliey will not accomplish still greater things. When 
we consider carefully all the facts, gleaned from various 
sources, so far, we look forward with confidence to the 
most encouraging and happy results. 

Even now the contrabands are not slow in makino- 
themselves as comfortable as circumstances will admit, 
as the following writer attests : — 

" I visited a camp of negroes near Memphis, on Sab- 
bath last, and was agreeably surprised to find so much 
of neatness and order in all their arrangements. The 
soldiers are scrupulously clean, well clad, regularly and 
rigidly drilled, compelled to keep within the camp, and. 



268 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

above all, anxious to learn and perform the duties of 
good soldiers. Half the discipline among the white sol- 
diery would convert our army into a model of military 
management. About two hundred yards from the mil- 
itary camp is a camp of contrabands, women, and chil- 
dren. Where tents have not been brought into requi- 
sition, huts have been improvised and furnished in the 
most sumptuous manner, without regard to expense, 
from the extensive decorations of the palatial residences 
of their former owners. To give you an idea of the 
manner in which one of the huts was furnished, a de- 
scription will not be uninteresting, at least, in showing 
the changes fortune makes in war. 

" Modern negro huts are constructed out of round 
logs, the interstices filled with mud, a chimney of rocks 
and mortar creeping in the rear of the building above 
the roof. Within is a floor of earth, flat upon which is 
laid a Brussels carpet, the net cost of which before the 
war was from one dollar and fifty cents to three dollars 
per yard ! The room — there is only one — is generally 
about ten or twelve feet square. In one corner is a 
piano, upon one end of which is a guitar ; on the other 
a pile of ' middling,' (the reader must understand that 
middling means, down South, ' bacon ') the piano and 
accompaniments giving a middling musical air to the 
interior. Mahogany chairs, a spring mattress, bedstead, 
&c., &c., complete the comforts of one of the negro 
huts, of which, in this country, there are not a few." 

The question continually asked, in respect to the Af- 
rican race, is. Will they work ? Are they capable of 
assuming the responsibilities of freedmen ? These 



A SLAVE BORN TO COMMAND. 2G9 

qTiestions can only be answered by facts. During a 
residence of many years in the South, the writer of 
these pages, a Southerner by birth, studied the institu- 
tion of slavery with Northern eyes, which had no doubt 
been somewhat enlightened by six years of study in 
Northern institutions. 

Living, at the tinie to which reference is now made, 
in a district almost wholly slave-holding, and brought 
into daily contact with the lives of the masters as well 
as the slave, he had some opportunity to judge of their 
capacity and willingness to labor. I well remember 
S., left, when quite young, with a large plantation and 
many slaves to manage. He had been a spoiled child, 
and the associates he formed after he grew up exercised 
over him a vicious influence. He developed but little 
business capacity adequate to the responsible post he 
was expected to occupy. Fortunately for him and his 
pecuniary interests, there was found among his servants 
(slaves) a man of most remarkable powers for one of 
his race. Solomon was the acknowledged ruler and 
overseer of the plantation. He was a man of hercu- 
lean form and power, of a massive head, with intelli- 
gence and power shining in every feature. He under-^ 
stood, as if by instinct, every fault in his master's at- 
tempted management of the plantation. S. at length 
found it wise to resign his affairs to his care and keep- 
ing. He entered upon his stewardship as a man confi- 
dent of his ability to accomplish so responsible an un- 
dertaking. This man had not the slightest mixture of 
white blood in his veins. Beneath his ebony features 
the stamp of genius had been imprinted by nature. 

23* 



270 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

The slaves of the plantation feared him, and he ruled 
them as with a rod of iron. That plantation had the 
reputation of raising more grain, of being kept in better 
condition, as to the richness of soil and attention to 
buildings, fences, and the many important items of farm- 
ing, than any in the neighborhood. 

Without education, except what Nature gave him, he 
was, nevertheless, as shrewd in his business transactions 
as he was prompt in keeping his contracts. When we 
compared this uneducated African, managing so skil- 
fully and successfully this large estate, with the effem- 
inate and incompetent master, we must confess that 
Solomon, in our eyes, came up more fully to the meas- 
ure and capacity of a man. If this man could so con- 
tribute to his master's wealth, notwithstanding the cir- 
cumstances of his birth, why not to his own ? Would 
he fight ? He seemed born to command. He had the 
stamp of a Hannibal in his face. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

" Prejudice is an unreasoning and remorseless despot; but Prejudice is more frequently de- 
throned than any other tyrant. And I predict that the time is coming, and it may dawn in your 
day and mine, when the colored people will be found among the most devoted defenders of the 
American Union. The war, like a thunderstorm, clears away many clouds; the prejudice against 
the colored people is one of them. Let us, then, thank Heaven that if the rebellion has been a 
sore trial to our beloved country, it has cleansed us from many sins, and induced us to look for- 
ward to a brighter, because a better, future." 



PREJUDICE AGAINST THE AFRICAN RACE CONSIDERED — THE 
NEW YORK MOB AND THE SUFFERINGS OF THE NEGRO — 
BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM -NOTES OF PER- 
SONAL OUTRAGES -CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH CONSUL-GEN- 
ERAL—ADVICE OF THE GREAT O'CONNELL. 

IN the present chapter we design to consider some 
of the difficulties in the way of the advancement 
of the African race on this continent, on the ground of 
prejudice. This prejudice exists North as well as 
South, and among various classes of the people. The 
slave-holder has no prejudice against the negro so long 
as he is a slave ; but the moment he seeks to rise in 
the scale of being, and takes part with him in the du- 
ties of the citizen, his antipathies are aroused. 

The poor whites of Raleigh, as soon as they encoun- 
tered Lunsford Lane as a free man,— freed as the result 
of his own labors, — said, " You are only a nigger, 

after alW^ 

It will be through much tribulation, and a persistent 



271 



272 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

course of well-doing, that our colored fellow-citizens will 
be able to overcome this deep-seated prejudice. God 
often over-rules our severest trials as the procurer of our 
richest blessings. A signal instance of this is seen in 
the late persecution of the colored people of New York, 
and in other cities. The vials of wrath against these 
unoffending people seemed now to be unstopped, and 
their contents poured out. We stop not now to consider 
the immediate cause of this outbreak. Let our politi- 
cians do this. We are considering only the facts. 

The future historian will feel only shame as he writes 
the brief paragraph in our social annals of the New 
York riots of July, 1863, and the treatment received 
by this people. That our adopted fellow-citizens from 
the Green Isle should have participated in these scenes 
is surprising. In no country is there less prejudice 
toward them. Here they are indeed free. Here they 
may rise to any position of influence, with no disabili- 
ties to impede their advancement. We esteem them 
highly for their virtues and industry. We are rejoiced 
to see them so steadily increasing in wealth and in hap- 
piness. Why, then, should they seek to crush the poor 
African who, too, seeks to rise ? 

That we may see the ruinous and irrational and even 
barbarous extent to which this prejudice may run, if 
indulged, let us briefly review these late riots. We will 
not go into the brutal particulars. We simply state 
results. 

One account estimates that three thousand colored 
people have been made homeless, penniless, and desti- 
titute, by the recent mob. The situation of these un- 



BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM. 273 

fortunate victims of brutality and violence has attracted 
the attention of the wealthy citizens of New York, and 
in accordance with the views of a meeting of mer- 
chants and others, recently held, arrangements will 
soon be made to relieve the wants of those who are 
known to be in a suffering condition, as well as to ascer- 
tain the whereabouts, and minister to the necessities of 
many more who are probably secreted in places of 
doubtful security. 

Another report states that a list of all the colored per- 
sons now in the care of the commissioners of charities 
and correction of the city (New York) comprises five 
hundred and twenty persons. Three hundred and six- 
teen of the number are actual refugees from the city, 
and two hundred and six are children from the Colored 
Orphan Asylum, which was burned to the ground by 
the mob. Three clergymen are among the first class 
referred to. 

The following is an account of the burning of the Or- 
phan Asylum for colored children. It was visited by 
the mob at four o'clock : — 

" This institution is situated on Fifth Avenue, and 
the building, with the grounds and gardens adjoining, 
extended from Forty-third to Forty-fourth Street. Hun- 
dreds, and perhaps thousands of the rioters, the major- 
ity of whom were women and children, entered the 
premises, and in the most excited and violent manner, 
they ransacked and plundered the building from cellar to 
garret. The building was located in the most pleasant 
and healthy portion of the city. It was purely a chari- 
table institution. In it there are on an 



274 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

hundred or eight hundred homeless colored orphans. 
The building was a large four-story one with two wings 
of three stories each. 

" When it became evident that the crowd designed to 
destroy it, a flag of truce appeared on the walk oppo- 
site, and the principals of the establishment made an 
appeal to the excited populace ; but in vain. 

" Eere it was that Chief Engineer Decker showed 
himself one of the bravest among the brave. After the 
entire building had been ransacked, and every article 
deemed worth carrying away had been taken, — and this 
included even the little garments for the orphans^ ivhich 
were contributed hy the benevolent ladies of this city^ — 
the premises were fired on the first floor. Mr. Decker 
did all he could to prevent the flames from being 
kindled ; but when he was overpowed by superior num- 
bers, with his own hands he scattered the brands, and 
effectually extinguished the flames. A second attempt 
was made, and this time in three different parts of the 
house. Again he succeeded, with the aid of half a 
dozen of his men, in defeating the incendiaries. The 
mob became highly exasperated at his conduct, and 
threatened to take his life if he repeated the act. On 
the front steps of the building he stood up amid an 
infuriated and half-drunken mob of two thousand, 
and begged of them to do nothing so disgraceful to 
humanity as to burn a benevolent institution, which 
had for its object nothing but good. He said it would 
be a lasting disgrace to them and to the city of New 
York. 

" These remarks seemed to have no good effect upon 



BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM. 275 

them, and meantime the premises were again fired, — 
this time in all parts of the house. Mr. Decker, with 
his few brave men, again extinguished the flames. 
This last act brought down upon him the vengeance of 
all who were bent on the destruction of the asylum, 
and but for the fact that some firemen surrounded him, 
and boldly said that Mr. Decker could not be taken ex- 
cept over their dead bodies, he would have been des- 
patched on the spot. The institution was destined to 
be burned, and after an hour and a half of labor on the 
part of the mob, it was in flames in all parts. Three 
or four persons were horribly bruised by the falling 
walls, but the names we could not ascertain. There 
is now scarcely one brick left upon another of the Or- 
phan Asylum." 

We append in the note some particulars of the bru- 
talities enacted by the mob.* 



* Outrages upox Colored Persons. Among the most cowardly features 
of the riot, and one which intimated its political animus and the cunningly-de- 
vised cue that had been given to the rioters by the instigators of the outbreak, 
Avas the causeless and inhuman treatment of the negroes of the city. It seemed 
to be an understood thing throughout the city that the negroes should be attacked 
wherever found, whether they offered any provocation or not. As soon as one 
of these unfortunate people was spied, whether on a cart, a railroad car, or in 
the streetj he was immediately set upon by a crowd of men and boys, and unless 
some man of pluck came to his rescue, or he was fortunate enough to escape 
into a building, he was inhumanly beaten, and perhaps killed. There were prob- 
ably not less than a dozen negroes beaten to death in different parts of the city 
during the day. Among the most diabolical of these outrages that have come 
to our knowledge is that of a negro cartman living in Carmine Street. About 
eight o'clock in the evening, as he was coming out of the stable, after having 
put up his horses, he was attacked by a crowd of about four hundred men and 
boys, who beat him with clubs and paving-stones till he was lifeless, and then 
hung him to a tree opposite the burying-ground. Not being yet satisfied with 
their devilish work, they set fire to his clothes, and danced and yelled and 
swore their horrid oaths around his burning corpse. The charred body of the 
poor victim was still hanging upon the tree at a late hour last evening. 



MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 



That it is exceedingly difficult to divest ourselves of 
these prejudices is admitted ; and yet it is not much 
credit to our civilization to say that the prejudice 



Early in the afternoon, the proprietors of such saloons and other places of 
business as had negroes in their employ, were obliged to close up, for fear that 
the rioters would destroy their premises. In most of them the negroes were 
compelled to remain over night, not daring to go home lest they be mobbed on 
the way. 

The following is, perhaps, one of the worst eases of brutality which has been 
yet recorded since the revolting scenes of this riot have commenced to be en- 
acted : — • 

"At a late hour on Wednesday night, a colored man, whose name we could 
not obtain, was passing along West Street, in the neighborhood of Pier No. 5, 
North River. He was evidently a laboring man, and was dressed in a tarpaulin, 
a blue shirt, and heavy duck trousers. As he was passing a groggery in that 
vicinity, he was observed by a body of dock-men, who instantly set after him. 
He ran with all the swiftness his fears could excite, but was overtaken before 
he had gone a block. His persecutors did not know him, nor did they enter- 
tain any spite against him, beyond the fact that he was a black man, and a 
laborer upon the docks, Avhich they consider their own peculiar property. Nev- 
ertheless, they pitched into him, right and left, knocked him down, pulled him 
up by the hair, kicked him in the face and ribs, and finally, by the hands of their 
leader, deliberately mit his throat. The body, dead they supposed it, was thrown 
into the water, and left to sink. Fortunately, life was not extinct, and the sud- 
den plunge brought the poor fellow to his senses, and, being a good swimmer, 
he was enabled instinctively to seek for the net-work of the dock. This he soon 
found ; but was so weak from loss of blood, and so faint with pain, that he could 
do no more than hold on and wait for day. Yesterday morning, Messrs. Kelley 
and Curtis, of Whitehall, discovered him lying, half-dead, in tiie water. They 
at once attended to his wants, gave him in charge of the police boat, and had 
him sent to the hospital. The escape of the man from death by the successive 
abuses of beating, kuiflng, and drowning, is most wonderful." 

Says another account : — 

"Om- poor blacks are fleeing in all directions. No place is safe for them. 
About three miles from the South Ferry, on the road "to East New York, is a 
settlement of negroes, called Weeksville. About one thousand of them reside 
there. Some of them are quite wealthy. The men are servants, and the women 
take in washing, and tend the gardens. They are orderly and quiet. During 
all this trouble, these poor creatures have been in dreadful fear. On Wednes- 
day night it was rumored that the place was to be pillaged and burnt. The help- 
less people took what little they could carry, and fled to the woods, and, like 
frightened sheep, clung together all the night, no one daring to go to sleep. They 
do hot know what to do, nor where to go. They come bounding into the cars, 
only to be turned out, as the conductor« are in fear of the mob." 



NOTES OF PERSONAL OUTRAGES. 277 

against " negroes " is, of all known prejudices, the 
meanest and the worst, and that it has no other basis, 
except ignorance. 

" Some prejudices," says Greville, " are to the mind 
what the atmosphere is to the body. We cannot feel 
without the one, nor breathe without the other." And 
again, " to divest one's self of some prejudices would 
be like taking off the skin to feel the better." 

We admire the promptness of the British Consul-Gen- 
eral of New- York, when he was advised of the outrages 
inflicted upon many black sailors belonging to English 



The Evening Post says the colored people have determined to defend them- 
selves hereafter. To this end the colored residents of the Eighth Ward have of 
late been busy in fortifying and strengthening the section which is largely popu- 
lated by them. This consists of parts of Sullivan and Thompson Streets, be- 
tween Broome and Grand. At this point they have decided to make a stand, 
and feel confident that they can resist any attack which will be made, or at least 
hold out untU reinforcements shall arrive. Whoever attacks them will have 
an opportunity of testing what virtue there is in firearms, hand-grenades, boil- 
ing water, and brickbats. 

An exploration of the negro settlement on Staten Island, known as "Rocky 
Hollow," reveals the fact that the colored people have not yet dared to return to 
the homes whence they have been driven by the violence and threats of a brutal 
mob, but are hiding in the woods, and suffering for want of the necessaries of 
life. 

The Troy Mob and the Negroes. The Troy Times says, — 

" One of the meanest and most contemptible incidents of the mob reign in 
this city was its demonstration against helpless and unoffending negroes, who 
had done nothing to provoke the hostility of their persecutors. A large number 
of these poor persons fled the city in a panic of terror. Some twenty-five, includ- 
ing the pastor of the church on Liberty Street, which was menaced, found a ref- 
uge in Sandlake. One family of four persons was charged by a hackman ten dol 
lars for being carried eight miles. Others found their way to Lansingburg, Green 
bush, and Albany. A large number have been living in out-houses on the Poes- 
tenkill flats, compelled, for no offence against law or order, to leave their em- 
ployments and homes, Avhere they enjoyed much of comfort. Of course these 
last-named are in a state of destitution. They would have famished, had not 
benevolent farmers and citizens living near by provided scantily for their ininic- 
diate necessities. It is a burning shame to our city that any who are entitled to 
its protection are thus banished from it." 
24 



278 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

ships, in providing immediate security. In the absence 
of an Enghsh war-ship at that port, he applied to the 
commander of the French frigate Gnerriere, Admiral 
Raymond, to take this class of persons under his imme- 
diate protection. The admiral consented, and took 
two hundred blacks on board of his vessel. The Brit- 
ish frigate Challenge, Capt. Kennedy, arrived soon 
after, when the negroes were transferred to her from 
the French frigate, with one hundred others, who were 
sent from the Consulate. 

Men of great souls seldom entertain prejudices 
against the innocent and unoffending. It is generally 
the unprincipled and low-bred who can afford to indulge 
these disreputable thoughts and acts. 

The Catholic Telegraph;^ of Cincinnati, prints a long 
letter of remonstrance, addressed, in 1843, by Daniel 
O'Connell, and a committee of Irishmen to a committee 
of Irish citizens of Cincinnati, who ventured to rebuke 
O'Connell for his anti-slavery sentiments. The reply 
of the great Irishman is pungent. He does not spare 
his sarcasms. He overwhelms the luckless Cincinnati 
committee with reproaches on their meanness in abus- 
ing the down-trodden, and taking part with the oppres- 
sor. The letter, which is to be pubhshed in pamphlet 
form, concludes as follows : — 

"Irishmen! sons of Irishmen! descendants of the 
kind of heart and affectionate in disposition, think, oh, 
think only with pity and compassion on your colored 
fellow-creatures in America. Offer them the hand of 

* See Boston Journal for Jxily, 1863. 



ADVICE OF THE GREAT O'CONNELL. 279 

kindly help. Soothe then- sorrows. Scathe their op- 
pressor. Join with your countrymen at home in one 
cry of sympathy with the enslaved and oppressed : — 

' 'Till prone in the dust Slavery shall be hurled, — 
Its name and nature blotted from the world.' 

"Once again, — and for the last time, — we call up- 
)n you to come out of the councils of the slave-owners, 
and at all events to free yourselves from participating 
in their guilt. 

" Irishmen, I call upon you to join in crushing slav- 
ery, and in giving liberty to every man of every caste, 
creed, or color." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



'There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, 

Shorn of his strength, and bound in bonds of f 
Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand, 
And shake the pillars of this commonweal, 
Till the vast Temple of our liberties 
A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies." 



NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME — LETTER FROM MEM- 
PHIS, TEXN. — LUNSFORD AT SCHOOL — VISIT OF LAFAYETTE 
TO RALEIGH — LUNSFORD NOTICED BY HIM — LAFAYETTE'S 
OPINIONS — THE LYCEUM AT THE MINERAL SPRING — THE NE- 
GRO DEBATERS — THE FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL, AS SEEN 
BY A WRITER IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. 



THE reader of the foregoing narrative^may perhaps 
feel an interest in learning something of the subse- 
quent history of some of the persons to whom reference 
has been made. Civil war has no doubt made many 
changes in the condition of Lunsford's friends. The 
cliildren of Mr. Haywood, his former master, ever en- 
tertained the strongest attachment toward Lunsford and 
his father. Uncle Ned. On learning of his death, which 
occurred, as stated in a preceding chapter, in Wren- 
tham, Miss Lucy, now Mrs. D. Bryan, who had been 
carried so many times in the arms of Uncle Ned, ad- 
dressed to his bereaved widow a very consoling letter. 
It seems that Mrs. Bryan's husband's father owned a 
fine plantation, to wliicli Mr. Bryan had fallen heir, 

280 



NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. 281 

where they had gone to reside. It is to be supposed 
that tlieir mansion had ample accommodations for their 
numerous visitors, from the name given it. It was 
near to Plymouth, on the Roanoke River. 

Lunsford, Miss Lucy, and Miss Delia were children 
together. The latter afterward became Mrs. Badger, 
wife of the Hon. George E. Badger. Aunt Clarissa, 
Lunsford's mother, in Mrs. Haywood's time, had charge 
of the dining-room, and held the keys of the pantry. 
The children, of whom there were four boys and five 
girls, knew where to go when the coveted delights of 
the pantry were to be unlocked. Is it strange that 
Aunt Clarissa was long and affectionately remembered ? 

" Hotel near Plymouth, N. C, Feb. 23, 1858. 
" My Dear Aunt Clarissa : Your letter to your sis- 
ter, directed to me, was duly received, and not being 
at home, I forwarded it to Matilda at Raleigh. I sin- 
cerely sympathize with you in the loss of your husband. 
You had lived together so long and so happily that you 
must feel this dispensation of God as a great affliction. 
I am pleased to see that you show so much Christian 
resignation in your trouble, and hope you will live 
many years to comfort your family. You have always 
been so faithful and affectionate to our family, that I, as 
well as the other members, feel great respect and affec- 
tion for you. When you left us to go to a strange 
land, we felt that we had parted from a dear friend. 
My good old mother (Mrs. Haywood) departed this life 
two years ago last December. Her disease was paraly- 
sis. She had a great many heirs. 

24* 



282 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" Your sister (Limsford's aunt) Matilda was given 
her freedom by Mrs. Hogg (this was one of Mr. Hay- 
wood's daughters). You know who I mean, — Miss 
Sally. Dr. Hogg built a room for her, and Miss Sally 
gave, her Clarissa (Matilda's own daughter) to wait 
on her. Matilda looks well, and is yet a smart, ac- 
tive woman. Alex., her husband, is living, and has 
changed very little. All the old people about Raleigh, 
pretty near, are dead. Mrs. Henry Haywood is the 
only one of the old set that is living. Maria, my sister, 
is living on a corner of the four-acre lot, where the old 
mansion stands. There she built a pretty cottage, near 
where the old blacksmith shop stood, at the back of the 
garden. She thought she could take better care of her 
servants. She has one or two about the house and gar- 
den, and hires out the rest. But you know we look 
upon our servants as friends, and not as slaves, and we 
feel as much for them as if they were children. (Luns- 
ford, on reading this portion of the letter, and looking 
back upon his past history, and that of his offspring, 
could hardly admit the truth of this statement.) The 
abolitionists say a great deal about Southern people ; 
but you know from your own experience, and that of 
your family, that you never received any but the kind-- 
est treatment. I often think of the time when you 
went to New York with me ; how I persuaded you to 
stay (Clarissa, having left a husband, a son, brothers 
and sisters in Raleigh, felt naturally a desire to see 
them), and when I would cry, you were so tender- 
hearted and kind you would j^i'omise to stay. When 
you did leave, I felt most wretched. I am now staying 



NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. 283 

witli my son William. The place once belonged to 
William's grandfather, and is a pretty place. I have 
only five children left, — two sons and three daughters, 
— having lost three. Of the old house-servanis, nearly 
all that you knew are dead. Billy Noyes, (the carpen- 
ter) is still living, and Green (the teanaster). Hasty 
(the cook) lives with me. I took her to care for her. 
She is quite smart and active, and cooks very well. 
Sam Mac (Lunsford's uncle), as he is called, — I be- 
lieve he is a brother of Uncle Ned's, — is still living. 
Mr. William Boylan* is the oldest man in Raleigh now. 
His son, Mountfort, has quite an interesting family, and 
lives four miles from Raleigh. It is his intention to 
build a large house where his father lives at present. 
Then the old people will remove to their residence in 
the city. I believe I have told you all the news I can 
think of at present. I was indeed glad to hear that 
you had the comforts of life, and wanted for nothing. 
William, my son, remembers your name well. He was 
a little child when you took him to New York. I think 
of you with feelings of great pleasure, and believe me 

to be your affectionate friend. 

" Lucy D. Bryan." 

B. B. Smith, from whom Lunsford purchased his 
wife and children, kept up a correspondence with Luns- 
ford for some time after his removal to the North. He 
continued to trafiic in negroes and merchandise as long 
as the trade was profitable. As Mr. Smith was a prom- 
inent and influential member of the Methodist Church 

* This gentleman proved himself the truest friend of Limsford in Raleigh. 



284 MEMOIR OF LUNSPORD LANE. 

South, Lunsforcl never understood how he could make 
his professions and his practices of a business kind con- 
sistent. Mr. Smith, when a child, had inherited a little 
slave, — a girl of great smartness and beauty. Lenda, 
on reaching womanhood, married and had one son, 
Washington. Of course she loved this, her only child, 
as only a mother can ; but the child belonged not to 
her. When the maternal care was no longer needed, he 
was, in his master's eyes, as any other marketable com- 
modity, to be sold or bartered away. Washington was 
a "likely negro," and at fifteen or twenty commanded 
a good price. A Mr. Bunch, of Buffalo Creek, residing 
some twenty miles from Raleigh, was the lucky pur- 
chaser. Whether 'there was any sadness in the mother's 
heart at parting thus with her son, was a matter about 
which Mr. Smith cared but little. Several years had 
passed by, and as yet she had heard no word from her 
child. At length the season of the quarterly meeting 
came, and with it Mr. Blake, the presiding elder from 
the neighborhood of Buffalo Creek. One evening, dur- 
ing the meeting, Lunsford overheard a conversation be- 
tween Mr. Blake and Lenda, the former being the guest 
of Mr. Smith. She sought information concerning the 
boy, Washington. Her inquiries were satisfied to this 
extent, — no more. The Rev. Mr. Blake had seen Wash- 
ington, and his master had declared to him that the boy 
was worth '^five hundred dollars .' " He thought this 
was paying a high compliment to her son, which would 
be most satisfying to this poor slave-mother. The inci- 
dent was a slight one, but was never forgotten by Lunr- 
ford. Not a word did this Christian minister utter in 



LETTER FROM MEMPHIS, TENN. 285 

regard to the boy's moral well-being, or a consoling sen- 
tence to the mother. The last information obtained in 
regard to Mr. Smith speaks of his having exhausted 
all his property, and at length was striving to support 
his family upon a small salary, as town-clerk of Raleigh. 
This was, indeed, a very humble position for Mr. Smith, 
and we are almost inclined to look upon it as one of the 
compensations in that just discipline that a wise Provi- 
dence administers to all his children. 

Lunsford received another letter from an individual 
who prefers not to give his name. It is quite a spicy 
epistle ; but inasmuch as Lunsford had neither brother 
nor sister, he cannot be the person referred to. If it 
was a trick to catch Lunsford in Cincinnati, for the pur- 
pose of his being kidnapped, it did not succeed ; as he had 
no desire to undertake a journey to see a family with 
whom he had no acquaintance, and to whom he was in 
no way related. The letter is as follows : — 

"Memphis, Tennessee, June 2, 1846. 
" Dear Sir : — From what I have hir and seen I have 
concluded to write you a few lines for your considera- 
tion and Infomation. In the year of 1826 may, one 
Tho. Bond stop at Franklin this state and hierd out 
some 40 or 50 slaves and in the fall of sd yeare he sent 
his servant Nelson Back to North Carohna after N. 
Wife named Harriet. Nelson and hur disagree and 
afterwards took up with a White Man and they had 
several Children and the man has bout Harriet and 
hur Children accept the one by Nelson and sent them 
to Cincinnati Ohio. . Harriet left hear this day week for 



28G MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

cincinnatti oliio. She came on a viset to see liur 
Daughter Silvey Nelsons child that is yet a slave I 
have often hird Harriet speak of you and Stephen and 
hur sisters Chaney and Rebacca that you all once be- 
long to Grisey Lane and She married, 1 thenk George 
Rion (Lunsford knew absolutely nothing of these per- 
sons). If you wish to corrispond with Harriet address 
Mrs Harriet S Rolls Cincinnati Ohio to the Care of 
Mr William Rolls, or if you wish to Viset hur take the 
cars at Baltimore for Cumberland and from thear by 
the Stage 131 to Wheeling V.a on the Ohio River and 
thear take Steamboat to Cincinnatti Ohio it costs 11-$ 
from Baltimore to Whealling and 5$ from Wheeling 
to cincennatti ohio or did this time 2 year ago. If you 
go to see Harriet she lives on 5 stree I think and en 
quire for Harriet Sharp or hur daughter Mary or hur 
son Anduson sharp they ar freed in the name of sharp 
they ar all weel and doing well Wm Rolls is a black 
smith and has a Family and belong to the Babtist 
Church and Harriet also. Rolls is a bout the coller of 
Harriet. The Reason I write this Epistle is I have the 
North Carolina Standard dated Raleigh N.C. May 13, 
1846 and in this paper I see a leter Written in Wethers- 
field Connecticut stating that Lunsfud Lane says that 
he was born in Raleigh and belong to a Mr Sherwod 
Haywood and after his deth you bought your self and 
pd 10001 and that you also bought from B B. Smith, 
your wife and 7 children and that you lecture in the 
Babtist Church and that you ar trying to Rase money 
to cause the slaves to run a way from thear Masters in 
the South next August. Tho I expect that you have 



LUNSFORD AT SCHOOL. 287 

seen it in the Paper and that you speak of Inserrection 
&C, All that I have to say to you on that subject is that 
I am a Friend to Harriet and live in one of the South 
West States and if you ware to come to one of those 
slave States and it was known that you ware one of 
them kind of Men you would be killed Without Judge 
or Jury. I wish you to do Well and if you permit me 
to advise you, I say attend to your own business and 
let others a lone Harriet can let you know who I am. 

I will write to hur and send the paper concerning 
of you, I never saw you neither was I ever in N. C. 
the Paper also states that you have gone to Bestin to 
live your Brother Harris lives in Mississeppi he was 
well last year he marred and weight about 190 lb 

One 

As Lunsford never had a brother, some '' One " is la- 
boring under a misapprehension, which to this day he 
has had no opportunity to correct. 

Many persons who have seen and conversed with 
Lunsford Lane have been surprised at his intelligence, 
his gentlemanly manners, and his fine use of language. 
He has never been to school a day in his life, in the 
sense that we understand the term, and yet he has had 
considerable schooling. He was a diligent student in 
the school of experience ; and having endowments and 
faculties common to others, he made considerable prog- 
ress in the acquisition of useful knowledge. He dif- 
fered from others of his race more in respect to his in- 
dustrious habits, and determination to better his condi- 
tion, than in any other qualities. His early manhood 



288 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

was passed during a period peculiarly favorable at the 
South for the slave's advancement. That they were 
not slow at improving these opportunities, we may learn 
from several incidents taken from the reminiscences of 
Lunsford's history. Years before the name of aboli- 
tionist was heard in the Southern States, at least in a 
sense odious to slave-holders, a certain degree of free- 
dom was allowed to slaves in their social and religious 
meetings ; it was not the custom to require white per- 
sons to attend colored funerals ; all these meetings 
were so many schools, where the slaves interchanged 
their views upon various subjects, and even debated 
questions affecting their own well-being; gentlemen's 
servants, selected for their natural intelligence, forming, 
as they did, quite a large class at the South, were in the 
habit of attending their masters at great political gather- 
ings and barbecues. Jn this way Lunsford and others 
heard most of the distinguished orators of the South. 
We are speaking now of Lunsford's experience at 
Raleigh, and that section of North Carolina ; and the 
same is true of other intelligent servants who occupied 
a similar relation to their masters. Lunsford has a 
vivid remembrance of many important political gather- 
ings, and of the individuals who were prominent in 
these popular discussions. He has heard on frequent 
occasions, Calhoun, Preston of South Carolina, Badger, 
Stanly, Judge Gaston, Judge RufSn, Mangum, and 
others. 

That these intelligent slaves should be inspired with 
a love of liberty, as they listened to the fervent por- 
trayal of the superiority of American freedom over the 



Lafayette's opinions. 289 

despotism of Europe, is not at all strange. On one of 
these occasions, the Rev. Dr. McPhetus, of Raleigh, was 
called upon to make a prayer, and, after fervently 
thanking the Supreme Governor of all things for the 
privileges enjoyed and secured to us by our free insti- 
tutions, he introduced the sentiment that made a deep 
and lasting impression upon Lunsford, " that it ivas 
impossible to enslave an intelligent people. ^^ Lunsford 
pondered the words and discussed them again and 
again, as opportunity offered, with other servants ; and 
the more they were revolved in their minds, the more 
determined they became that they would be free. 

About the year 1824 an incident occurred in Luns- 
ford's experience, of a very interesting nature. It was 
the meeting of Lafayette at Raleigh. Lunsford acted 
as one of the waiters at the great dinner given in the 
Governor's palace. He felt it a pleasure to serve him 
even in this relation. Lafayette never loved slavery, 
white or black ; and in years after this visit, when he 
contemplated the extent to which the institution had 
increased in those very States that he had with his own 
sword fought to make free, he felt a degree of shame 
which he did not hesitate to express, — shame and indig- 
nation which no language of his could adequately por- 
tray. " I would never," said he on one occasion, " have 
drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I could 
have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of 
slavery." And again, while in the prison at Magde- 
burg, he said, " I know not what disposition has been 
made of my plantation at Cayenne ; but I hope Madame 
de Lafayette will take care that the negroes who culti- 

26 



290 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

vate it shall preserve their liberty." * Lunsford, as he 
beheld this great maii, and thought of his services in 
behalf of freedom, felt proud to be even his waiter, and 
slave as he was, he felt his noble words in advocacy of 
human rights stirring his own soul to a firmer deter- 
mination than ever, not only to be free, but to advocate 
its claims before others. On the day following his re- 
ception, Lafayette met Lunsford and handed him a ten- 
dollar note which he desired he should get changed 
into smaller denominations. He generously handed 
Lunsford a silver dollar, with the request that he would 
distribute the rest among the other servants as a token 
of his appreciation of their kindness. 

It is not strange that Lunsford and other intelligent 
servants, who were present with their masters on the 
occasion referred to, and hearing the very language 
and sentiments of freedom, should have desired their 
liberty also. It was the custom of the colored people 
of Raleigh, both free and slave, to assemble every Sab- 
bath afternoon during the pleasant weather at a famous 
mineral spring in the suburbs of that town. While we 
have no design to approve of such a custom, we shall 
speak of it only as a means whereby the slaves found a 
way for the free expression of their opinions, and for 
the cultivation of their minds. The hours of the after- 
noon, beneath the pleasant shade and around the spring, 

* O. Lafayette, grandson of General Lafayette, in a letter written as late as 
April 20, 1851, says, "This great question of the abolition of negro slavery, 
which has my entire sympathy, appears to me to have established its importance 
throughout the Avorld. At the present time, the States of the Peninsula, if I do 
not deceive myself, are the only European powers who still continue to possess 
slaves ; and America, while continuing to uphold shnery, feels daily, more and 
more, how heavily it locigks upoirhev destinies.-'' 



LYCEUM AT THE MINERAL SPRING. 291 

were spent in the discussion of various questions ; often 
the audience would be entertained by the speaker's 
giving from memory the substance of a speech he had 
heard at some poHtical meeting during the week with 
his master. So witty became the debates of the colored 
people at the grove, that the white people would come 
in large numbers to listen. Many masters even felt 
proud of the growing smartness of then- slaves, and 
encouraged these efforts while they appeared harmless. 
Thus many of the smarter class of slaves learned the 
value of freedom, and were at length filled with an irre- 
pressible desire to secure it even at the hazard of their 
lives. But these palmy days of slavery soon passed 
away, not because abolitionists at the North had been 
there to infuse among these slaves a desire for freedom, 
but because the pressure of slavery being for a while 
lifted, that innate love of freedom had a brief time to 
grow. The slaves themselves are the original abolition- 
ists ; the story of their wrongs has simply made us 
their advocates at the bar of public opinion. These 
meetings, everywhere in the South, were suppressed as 
soon as the native intelligence in the slave took the 
direction of a desire for freedom, and at the present 
day all gatherings of slaves of whatever kind are sup- 
pressed by statute. Their religious meetings were also 
placed under the surveillancB of white preachers. Many 
who had learned the value of freedom, as Lunsford did, 
sought in all lawful ways to obtain it ; those who were 
unable to purchase it ran away, and penetrated even 
mto the Northern States and into Canada ; they found 
ears willing to listen to the story of their wrongs ; that 



292 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

these wrongs awakened deep sympathies is not strange ; 
that they made many abolitionists is what we should 
expect. The mistake committed was originally by the 
masters themselves ; they should not have allowed so 
large a liberty ; the race was found far more capable of 
elevation than they suspected, and hence to retain 
them as slaves they must be kept in the profoundest 
ignorance. 

The September number of the Atlantic Monthly con- 
tains quite an extended article upon the freedmen at 
Port Royal. We design to close this chapter with a 
brief synopsis of the article, with such remarks as our 
own acquaintance with the subject may suggest. Be- 
sides, the length of that contribution may prevent some 
from giving it as careful a perusal as it deserves. The 
writer speaks from a personal knowledge of what he 
has himself seen, during a visit to the islands, and the 
various schools at present in successful operation. And 
first, in regard to educational matters. More than 
thirty schools are already established in the territory, 
and over forty teachers are employed in the various de- 
partments, commissioned by " three associations in Bos- 
ton, New York, and Philadelphia, and by the American 
Missionary Association." There is an average attend- 
ance of " two thousand pupils ; and more or less fre- 
quented by an additional thousand." The writer visited 
ten schools, and conversed with the teachers of others. 
" On the twenty-fifth of March, I visited a school at the 
Central Baptist Church, on St. Helena Island, built in 
1855, shaded by live-oak trees, wij:h the long, pendu- 
lous moss everywhere hanging from their wide-spread- 



FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL. 293 

ing branches, and surrounded by the gi^avestones of the 
former proprietors, with the ever-recurring names of 
Fripp and Chaplin. This school was opened in Septem- 
ber last ; but many of its pupils had received some in- 
struction before. One hundred and thirty children 
were present on my first visit, and one hundred and 
forty-five on my second, which was a few days later. 
This school, like most on the plantations, opened at 
noon, and closed at three o'clock, leaving the forenoon 
for the children to work m the field, or perform other 
service in which they could be useful. One class of 
twelve pupils were using Wilson's Reader and read with 
little spelling or hesitation. They had recited thirty 
pages of Town's Speller, and had made some progress 
in the multiplication-table. A few, among the younger, 
were learning the alphabet. 

" They sang at the close of the school, with much 
spirit, appropriate hymns, — 

' My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty.' 
Also, — 

' Sound the loud timbrel' 

"Also Whittier's new song, written expressly for this 
school, the closing stanzas of which are, — 

' The very oaks are greener clad, 

The waters brighter smile ; 

Oh, never shone a day so glad 

On sweet St. Helen's isle ! 
For none in all the world before 

Were ever glad as we, — 
We're free on Carolina's shore, 
We're all at home and free.* 
25* 



294 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" Never has that muse, which has sung only of truth 
and right, as the highest beauty and noblest art, been 
consecrated to a better service than to write the songs 
of praise for these little children, chattels no longer, 
whom the Saviour, were he now to walk the earth, 
would bless as his own." 

This writer then gives us several specimens of their 
native songs, as sung by the children. We have heard 
these long enough, and we hope the good taste of the 
refined young ladies at Port Royal will substitute others 
more sensible and elevated in language. Northern 
people love to hear these songs as specimens of negro 
ignorance. Let us now endeavor to teach them some- 
thing better. Here is a specimen which should not be 
tolerated in these schools : -m- 

" In de mornin' when I rise, 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? * 
In de mornin' when I rise, • 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? 
I wash my hands in de mornin' glory, 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? 
I wash my hands in de mornin' glory, 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? 
Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got de order. 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? 
Pray, Tony, pray, you got de order. 

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? " 

We hope the day may soon come when all such illit- 
erate, we will not say senseless, songs will be discour- 
aged by all who wish and are laboring for the true en- 
lightenment of the African race. 

* How d' y' do. 



SCHOOL AT COFFIN POINT. 295 

The imconth and vulgar exhibition of "negro min- 
strelsy " we trust has also had its day. 

In this school were found three teachers, — two ac- 
complished young ladies from the North. " The thkd 
is a young woman of African descent, of olive complex- 
ion, fine culture, and attuned to all beautiful sympa- 
tliies of gentle address, and, what was especially notice- 
able, not possessed with an overwrought consciousness 
of her race. She had read the best books, and nat- 
urally and gracefully enriched her conversation with 
them. She had enjoyed the friendship of Whittier ; had 
been a pupil in the grammar school of Salem, then in 
the State Normal School in that city, then a teacher in 
one of the schools for white children, where she had 
received only the kindest treatment, both from pupils 
and their parents, and let this be spoken to the honor 
of that ancient town. She had refused a residence in 
Europe, where a better social hfe and less unpleasant 
discrimination awaited her, for she would not dissever 
herself from the fortunes of her own people ; and now, 
not with a superficial sentiment, but with a profound 
purpose, she devotes herself to their education." 

Another school at Coffin Point, on St. Helena Island, 
was visited, taught by a young woman from Milton, 
Massachusetts. 

" One class had read through Hillard's Second Pri- 
mary Reader, and were, as a review, readmg lessons 19, 
20, and 21, while I was present. Being -questioned as 
to the subjects of the lesson, they answered intelligibly. 
They recited the twos of the multiplication-table, and 
explained numeral letters and figures on slates. An- 



296 MEMOIR OF LUNSFOED LANE. 

other teacher in the adjoining district, a graduate of 
Harvard, and the son of a well-known Unitarian cler- 
gyman, of Providence, Rhode Island, has two schools, 
in one of which a class of three pupils were about finish- 
ing Ellsworth's First Progressive Reader, and another 
of seven pupils, had just finished Hillard's Second Pri- 
mary Reader. Another teacher, from Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, on the same island, numbers one hundred 
pupils in his tjvo schools. He exercises a class in Elo- 
cution, requiring the same sentence to be repeated with 
different tones and inflections, and one could not but 
remark the excellent imitations. 

" In a school at St. Helena Village, where were col- 
lected the Edisto refugees, ninety-two pupils were pres- 
ent as I went in. Two ladies were engaged in teaching, 
assisted by Ned Loyd White, a colored man, who had 
picked up clandestinely a knowledge of reading, wliile 
still a slave. One class of boys and another of girls 
read in the seventh chapter of St. John, having begun 
this Gospel, and gone thus far. They stumbled a little 
on words like ' unrighteousness ' and ' circumcision ; ' 
otherwise, they got along very well. When the Edisto 
refugees were brought here, in July, 1862, Ned, who is 
about forty or forty-five years old, and Uncle Cyrus, a 
man of seventy, who also could read, gathered one hun- 
dred and fifty children into two schools, and taught 
them as best they could for five months, until teachers 
were provided by the societies. Ned has since received 
a donation from one of the societies, and is now regu- 
larly employed on a salary. A woman comes to one 
of the teachers of this school for instruction in the 



SCHOOL ON LADIES ISLAND. 297 

evening, after she has put her cliildren to bed. She 
had become interested in learning by hearing her 
younger sister read when she came home from school ; 
and when she asked to be taught, she had learned from 
this sister the alphabet, and some words of one syllable. 
Only a small proportion of the adults are, however, 
learning. 

" On the eighth of April, I visited a school on Ladies 
Island, kept in a small church on the Eustis estate, and 
taught by a young woman from Kingston, Massachu- 
setts. She had manifested much persistence in going 
to this field ; went with the first delegation, and still 
keeps the school wliich she opened in March, 1862. 
She taught the pupils their letters. Sixty-six were 
present on the day of my visit. A class of ten pupils 
read the story which is found on page eighty-six of Hil- 
lard's Second Primary Reader. One girl, Elsie, a full 
black, and rather ungainly withal, read so rapidly that 
she had to be checked, the only case of such fast read- 
ing that I found. She assisted the teacher by taking 
the beginners to a corner of the room and exercising 
them upon an alphabet card, requiring them to give the 
names of letters taken out of their regular order, which 
they were expected to repeat after her. One class re- 
cited in Eaton's First Lessons in Arithmetic, and two 
or three scholars, with a rod, pointed out the States, 
lakes, and large rivers on the map of the United States, 
and also the different continents on the map of the 
world, as they were called. I saw the teacher of this 
school, at her residence, late in the afternoon, giving 
familiar instruction to some ten boys and girls, — all but 



298 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

two being under twelve years, — who read the twenty- 
first chapter of the book of Revelation, and the story 
of Lazarus, in the eleventh chapter of St. John. Elsie 
was one of these. Seeing me taking notes, she looked 
archly at the teacher and whispered, ' He is putting it 
in the book;' and as Elsie guessed, so I do. The 
teacher was instructing- her pupils in some dates and 
facts which have had much to do with our history. 
The questions and answers, in which all the pupils 
joined, were these : — 

u 4 ^here were slaves first brought to this country ? ' 

" ' Yirginia.' 

" ' When ? ' 

"'1620.' 

" ' Who brought them ? ' 

" ' Dutchmen.' 

" « Who came, the same year, to Plymouth, Massa- 
chusetts ? ' 

" ' Pilgrims/ 

" ' Did they bring slaves ? ' 

"'No.' 

" A teacher in Beaufort put these questions, to which 
answers were given, in a loud tone, by the whole 
school : — 

" ' What country do you live in ? ' 

" ' United States.' 

" ' What State ? ' 

" ' South Carolina.' 

" ' What island ? ' 

" ' Port Royal.' 

" ' What town ? ' 



SCHOOLS AT BEAUFORT. 299 

"'Beaufort.' 

'* ' Who is your governor ? ' 

" ' General Saxton.' 

" ' Who is your president ? ' 

" ' Abraham Lincohi.' 

" ' What has he done for you ? ' 

" ' He's freed us.' 

" There were four schools in the town of Beaufort, 
all of which I visited, each having an average attend- 
ance of from sixty to ninety pupils, and each provided 
with two teachers. In some of them writing was 
taught. But it is unnecessary to describe them, as 
they were very much like the others. There is, besides, 
at Beaufort an industrial school, which meets two after- 
noons in a week, and is conducted by a lady from New 
York, with some dozen ladies to assist her. There 
were present, the afternoon I visited it, one hundred 
and thirteen girls, from six to twenty years of age, all 
plying the needle ; some with pieces of patchwork, and 
others with aprons, pillow-cases, or handkerchiefs. 

" Though I have never been on the school-committee, 
I accepted invitations to address the schools on these 
visits, and particularly plied the pupils with questions, 
so as to catch the tone of their minds; and I have 
rarely heard children answer with more readiness and 
spirit. We had a dialogue, substantially as follows : — 

" ' Children, what are you going to do when you grow 
up?' 

" ' Going to work, sir.' 

" ' On what ? ' 

" ' Cotton and corn, sir.' 



300 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 

" ' What are you going to do with the corn ? ' 

" ' Eat it.' 

" ^ What are you going to do with the cotton ? ' 

" ' Sell it.' 

" ' What are you going to do with the money you get 
for it?' 

" One boy answered in advance of the rest, — 

" ' Put it in my pocket, sir.' 

" ' That won't do. What's better than that.' 

" ' Buy clothes, sir.' 

" ' What else will you buy ? ' 

" ' Shoes, sir.' 

" ' What else are you going to do with your money ? ' 

" There was some hesitation at this point. Then the 
question was put, — 

" ' What are you going to do Sundays ? ' 

" ' Going to meeting.' 

" ' What are you going to do there ? ' 

" ' Going to sing.' 

"'What else?' 

" ' Hear the parson.' 

" ' Who's going to pay him ? ' 

" One boy said, ' Government pays him ;' but the rest 
answered, — 

" ' We's pays him.' 

" ' Well, when you grow up, you'll probably get mar- 
ried, as other people do, and you'll have your Uttle 
children ; now, what will you do with them ? ' 

" There was a titter at this question ; but the general 
response came, — 

" ' Send 't3m io school , sh-/ 



SCHOOLS AT HILTON HEAD. 301 

" ' WeU, who'll pay the teacher ? ' 

" ' We's pays him.' 

"• One who listens to such answers can hardly think 
that there is any natural incapacity in these children to 
acquire, with maturity of years, the ideas and habits of 
good citizens. 

"The children are cheerful, and, in most of the 
e>chools, well-behaved, except that it is not easy to keep 
them from whispering and talking. They are joyous, 
and you can see the boys after school playing the sol- 
dier, with corn-stalks for guns. The memory is very 
susceptible in them, too much so, perhaps, as it is ahead 
of the reasoning faculty. 

" The labor of the season has interrupted attendance 
on the schools, the parents being desirous of having the 
children aid them in planting and cultivating their 
crops, and it not being thought best to allow the teach- 
ing to interfere in any way with industrious habits. 

"A few freedmen, who had picked up an imperfect 
knowledge of reading, have assisted our teachers, 
though a want of proper training materially detracts 
from their usefulness in this respect. Ned and Uncle 
Cyrus have already been mentioned. The latter, a 
man of earnest piety, has died since my visit. Anthony 
kept four schools on Hilton Head Island, last summer 
and autumn, being paid at first by the superintendents, 
and afterward by the negroes themselves ; but in No- 
vember he enlisted in the negro regiment. Hettie was 
another of these. She assisted Barnard at Edisto last 
spring, and continued to teach after the Edisto people 
were brought to St. Helena village, and one day brought 

26 



302 MEMOIR OP LUNSFORD LANE. 

some of her pupils to the school at the Baptist Church, 
saying to the teachers there that she could carry them 
no farther. They could read their letters and words 
of one syllable. Hettie had belonged to a planter on 
Wadmelaw Island, a kind old gentleman, a native of 
Rhode Island, and about the only citizen of Charleston, 
who, when Samuel Hoar went on his mission to South 
Carolina, stood up boldly for his official and personal 
protection. Hettie had been taught to read by his 
daughter ; and let this be remembered to the honor of 
this young woman. 

" Such are the general features of the schools as they 
met my eye. The most advanced classes, and these 
are but little ahead of the rest, can read simple stories 
and the plainer passages of Scripture ; and they could 
even pursue self-instruction if the schools were to be 
suspended. The knowledge they have thus gained can 
never be extirpated. They could read with much 
profit a newspaper specially prepared for them and 
adapted to their condition. They are learning that the 
world is not bounded north by Charleston, south by 
Savannah, west by Columbia, and east by the sea, with 
dim visions of New York, on this planet or some other, 
— about their conceptions of geography when we found 
them. 

" They are acquiring the knowledge of figures with 
which to do the business of life. They are singing the 
songs of freemen. Visit their schools. Remember 
that a little more than a twelvemonth ago they knew 
not a letter, and that for generations it has been a crime 
to teach their race ; then contemplate what is now 



NEGRO INDUSTRY. 303 

transpiring, and you have a scene which prophets and 
sages would have delighted to witness. It will be diffi- 
cult to find equal progress in an equal period since the 
morning rays of Christian truth first lighted the hill- 
sides of Judea. I have never looked on St. Peter's, or 
beheld the glories of art which Michael Angelo has 
wrought or traced ; but to my mind the spectacle of 
these poor souls strug.giing in darkness and bewilder- 
ment to catch the gleams of the upper and better light, 
transcends in moral grandeur anything that has ever 
come from mortal hands." 

The writer next speaks of the industry of the ne- 
groes, and it fully demonstrates what every sensible 
writer has said, that the only stimulant needed is remu- 
nerative wages, promptly paid, and a comfortable place 
of residence. In some instances, where the negroes 
had destroyed the cotton-gins, they have collected the 
scattered parts and brought them together, and gone to 
work on the promise of payment for their labor. It 
was found, on those plantations recently purchased by 
Northern men, and worked upon the free-labor principle, 
that there was no difficulty in obtaining hands, and the 
better the pay, the more the labor accomplished. Un- 
der a tropical sun, it is not expected that a man will do 
as much work as under the bracing climate of the 
North. On visiting Mr. Philbrick's plantations, he saw 
fifty persons at work in one field, all belonging to one 
plantation. This gentleman had purchased, at the tax- 
sales, thirteen plantations. He had under cultivation 
eight hundred and sixteen acres, where four hundred 
and ninety-nine were under cultivation last year. All 



304 MEMOIR OP LUNSPORD LANE. 

this labor was performed by former slaves, now working 
for wages. 

" The general superintendent of Port Kojal Island," 
said to the writer : " We have to restrain rather than 
encourage the negroes to take land for cotton." 

In several instances negroes showed considerable 
" capacity to organize labor and apply capital." One 
was found working a farm of three himdred acres, to 
do which he had employed a number of hands. 

The government have in their employ a number of 
freedmen erecting twenty-one houses for the Edisto 
people. The work is going on under the direction of 
Frank Barnwell, a freedman, having the direction of 
seventeen journeymen carpenters, all colored men. 

This writer next speaks of the " development of man- 
hood." They seem eager to improve their condition in 
life, to become the owners of land, and to provide their 
families with the comforts and conveniences of civilized 
life. On this subject, we have, in the course of this 
history, given many facts, and made some statements, 
which the events at Port Royal fully maintain. 

We omit a further reference to this article for the 
reason that many incidents of a similar kind have al- 
ready been referred to in the preceding chapters. The 
rapid progress toward civilization, which this race is now 
making in our midst, no unprejudiced person can deny, 
or remain for a long time in ignorance. 

What the life of Lunsford Lane demonstrates, under 
less favorable circumstances, is being daily demonstrated 
by the thousands who have been emancipated by the 
military necessities of the war. 



QUESTION OP THE HOUR. 305 

But whether our military necessities require a proc- 
lamation of emancipation or not, no human power can 
turn back the revolution begun. No Christian man 
can close his eyes to the very grave responsibilities rest- 
ing upon this and the succeeding generation. 

Over three million human beings have already passed 
through \\iQ first stage of advancement to manhood, and 
a capacity for freedom and the rights and blessings 
which freedom conveys. Shall we aid them kindly in 
the next great step, or shall we allow our prejudices to 
push aside or evade the answer to a question which in- 
volves the happiness or misery of millions of our fellow- 
men? 



THE END. 



